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CONFEDERATE VIEW 



OF THE 



TREATMENT OF PRISONERS. 



COMPILED FROM 



OFFICIAL RECORDS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS. 



Rev. J. WILLIAM JONES, D. D. 

SECKETART SOUTHERN HISTOKICAL SOCIKTT. 



RICHMOND : 

SOUTHERN HISTORICAL, SOCIETY. 
1876 

f 




.^1 



Entered according to Act of Congress, iii the year 1876, 

By J. WILLIAM JONES, 

Secretary Southern Historical Society, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 




,<.> 







PREFATORY NOTE. 



The demand for the contents of the two Papers we have issued 
on the "Treatment of Prisoners During the War Between the 
States," mduces us to put them in book form. 

It would have improved the appearance of the book to have 
reprinted the matter ; but we have decided to lessen its cost by 
simply binding into book form the March and April (1876) Num- 
bers of our "Southern Historical Society Papers.'' 

The discussion is by no means exhaustive, and yet we send it 
forth in the full confidence that the argument has not been, and 
cannot be answered, and that this little volume is a complete 
refutation of the slanders against our Government and people which 
have poisoned the minds of the nations against us. 



J. W. J. 



Office Southern Historical Society, 

Richmond, Virginia, July 1, 1376. 



\ 



CONTENTS. 



PA«E 

Mr. Blaine's arraif^ament 112 

Thi; question stated 115 

Letter from President Davis 116 

Testimony of General R. E. Lee 120 

Vice-President Stephens' Statement 123 

Judge Quid's Vindication of llie Confed- 
erate (Jovernnient 125 

Report of Joint Committee of the Con- 
federate Congress 132 

Extract from Central Presbyterian 151 

Confederate Laws 152 

Treatment of Privateers 153 

The Cartel 156 

^-"Confederate Soldiers and their Prisoners, 159 

y Andersonville 161 

Statement of one of the Guard 162 

Paper of Dr. Jos. -Jones on causes of mor- 
tality ITO 

Editorial comments )... 179 

Extracts from statement of Dr. R. R. Ste- 
venson 182 

Testimony of Federal Prisoners 184 

Statemcnl of Oi-iieral J. D. Imboden 187 

Kc|)( rt of ('ol<Hu;l 1). T. Chandler 197 

Leit, r fioni Ilonoraiile R. G. 11. Kean.... 199 

Letter f ri mi Secretary Sedcion 203 

Lcllcrs in defence of General Winder 205 

Judy:e Oiild's reply tocharges against liin), 210 
orlicial Statistics "on relative mortality of 

Prisoners 216 

Failure tn make a case 21S 

Editorial Paragraphs 221 

/ 



PAGE. 

Mr. Blaine's description of Northern Pri- 
sons 225 

Narrative of Henry clay Dean 226 

Prison Life of Rev. Geo. W. Nelson 243 

Letter of a Confederate Officer.. 256 

Narrative of Hon. A. M. Keiley 259 

Experience of Dr. \. W. K. Haiidy 270 

Statement of Rev. 'Geo. Harris 273 

Deposition of T. D. Henry 276 

Statement of Major Ro. Stiles 279 

Rock Island Prison, bv Chas. W Wright, 2S1 

Prison Rules at Fort i)el aware 292 

Testimony c)f a Federal Soldier 292 

Efforts of a Northern gentleman to relieve 

our prisoners 294 

Letter from a U. S. Medical Otflcer 296 

The Exchange Question 298 

Letter fri)in (ieneral Lee 299 

Commissioni'i- oiild's Iteport 303 

Federal Orders I{evoking Paroles 308 

Comments of (Jenensl .T. .\. Early 309 

How the Federals Refused to Exchange, 312 

Testimony of (ieneral B. F. Butler 313 

Statement of Junius Henri Browne 314 

Testimony of General I'. S. Grant 316 

The Negro Question 317 

Efforts of the Confederacy to effect an 

Exchange 318 

Letter of Chief Justice Shea 319 

Summing up of the whole question 3251^ 

Editorial Paragraphs — 326 



Vol. I. 



Ricliiiiond, Ta., Marcli, 1876. 



No. 3. 



THE TREATMENT OF PRISONERS DURING} THE WAR BETWEEN 

THE STATES. 

[Compiled by Secretary of Southern Historical Society.] 

There is, perhaps, no subject connected with the late war which 
more imperatively demands discussion at our hands than the Prison 
Question. That the Confederate Government should have been 
charged in the heat of the passions of the war with a systematic 
cruelty to prisoners was to be expected. The pulpits, the press, 
and the Government reports, which were so busy denouncing 
" Rebel barbarities " that they had no censure for the McNeils" 
the Turchins, the Butlers, the Milroys, the Hunters, the Sher- 
mans, and the Sheridans, who, under the flag of ''Liberty," 
perpetrated crimes which disgrace the age, were not to be expected 
to be over scrupulous in originating and retailing slanders against 
the Government and people of the South. But it was hoped that 
after the passions of the war had cooled, and the real facts had be- 
come accessible, that these sweeping charges would be at least 
modified, and these bitter denunciations cease. 

We have been doomed to a sad disappointment. The leader of 
the Radical party (Mr. Blaine) has recently in his place in the 
United States Congress revived all of the charges which twelve 
years ago " fired the Northern heart," and has marred the music of 
the "Centennial chimes," with such language as this: 

.'' ^f- ^f'f was the author, knowingly, deliberately, guiltily and 
wiltully of the gigantic murder and crime at Andersonville And 
1 here, before God, measuring my words, knowing their full extent 
and import, declare that neither the deeds of the^Duke of Alva in 
the Low countries, nor the massacre of Saint Bartholomew, nor the 
thumb-screws and engines of torture of the Spanish Inquisition 
vine"" ^°"'P''''® '"^ 'Atrocity with the hideous crimes of Anderson- 
He then quotes and endorses the following extract from the report 



114 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

of the ex parte committee of Congress who examined this question 
at a time when passion was at its flood tide: 

" The subsequent history of Andersonville has startled and 
shocked the world with- a tale of horror, of woe and death before 
unheard and unknown to civilization. No pen can describe, no 
painter sketch, no imagination comprehend its fearful and unutter- 
able iniquity. It would seem as if the concentrated madness of 
earth and hell had found its final lodgment in the breasts of those 
who inaugurated the rebellion and controlled the policy of the 
Confederate Government, and that the prison at Andersonville had 
been selected for the most terrible human sacrifice which the world 
had ever scon. Into its narrow walls were crowded thirty-five 
thousand enlisted men, many of them the bravest and best, the 
most devoted and heroic of those grand armies which carried the 
flag of their country to final victory. For long and weary months 
here they suffered, maddened, were murdered, and died. Here 
they lingered, unsheltered from the burning rays of a tropical sun 
by clay? ai^tl drenching and deadly dews by night, in every stage of 
mental and physical disease, hungered, emaciated, starving, mad- 
dened; festering with unhealed wounds; gnawed by the ravages of 
scurvy and gangrene; Avith swollen limb and distorted visage; cov- 
ered with vermin which they had no power to extirpate ; exposed 
to the flooding rains which drove them drowning from the misera- 
ble holes in which, like swine, they burrowed; parched with thirst 
and mad with hunger; racked with pain or prostrated with the 
weakness of dissolution; with naked limbs and matted hair ; filthy 
with smoke and mud ; soiled with the very excrement from which 
their weakness would not permit them to escape ; eaten by the 
gnawing worms which their own wounds had engendered ; with no 
bed but th-e earth; no covering save the cloud or the sky; these 
men, these heroes, born in the image of God, thus crouching and 
writhing in their terrible torture and calculating barbarity, stand 
forth in history as a monument of the surpassing horrors of Ander- 
sonville as it shall be seen and read in all future time, realizing in 
the studied torments of their prison-house the ideal of Dante's In- 
ferno and Milton's Hell." 

So industriously have these statements been circulated — so gene- 
rally have they entered into the literature of the North — so widely 
have they been believed, that the distinguished gentleman from 
Georgia (Hon. B. H. Hill), who ventured upon a calm reply, in 
which he ably refuted the assertions of Mr. Blaine, has been de- 
nounced by the Radical press as a " co-conspirator with Jeff. Davis to 
murder Union prisoners," and has been told by even some of our 
own papers that his speech was "very unfortunate." 

As we have in the archives of our Society the means of trium- 
phantly vindicating the Confederate Government from the charge 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 115 

of cruelty to prisoners, as we have been appealed to by leading 
men North and South and in Europe to give the facts in reference 
to this matter, and as the present seems an opportune time, we 
have decided to enter upon the task. 

We have only to premise that our work is mainly one of compila- 
tion, and that our chief difficulty is which documents to select from 
the vast number which we have in our collection. 

THE QUESTION STATED. 

Let it be distinctly understood that we do not for a moment 
affirm that there was not a vast amount of suffering and fearful 
mortality among the Federal prisoners at the South. But we are 
prepared to prove before any fair tribunal, from documents now in 
our archives, the following points: 

1. The Confederate authorities always ordered the kind treatm.ent 
of prisoners of war, and if there were individual cases of cruel 
treatment it was in violation of positive orders. 

2. The orders were to give prisoners the same rations that our 
own soldiers received, and if rations were scarce and of inferior 
quality it was through no fault of the Confederacy. 

3. The prison-hospitals were put on the same footing precisely as 
the hospitals for our own men, and if there was unusual suffering 
caused by want of medicine and hospital stores it arose from the 
fact that the Federal authorities declared these "contraband of war," 
and refused to accept the Confederate offer to allow Federal surgeons 
to come to the prisons with supplies of medicines and stores. 

4. The prisons were established with reference to healthfulness 
of locality, and the great mortality among the prisoners arose from 
epidemics and chronic diseases which our surgeons had not the 
means of preventing or arresting. 

A strong proof of this is the fact that nearly as large a proportion 
of the Confederate guard at Andersonville died as of the prisoners them- 
selves. 

5. The above reasons cannot be assigned for the cruel treatment 
which Confederates received in Northern prisons. Though in a land 
flowing with plenty, our poor fellows in prison were famished with 
hunger, and would have considered half the rations served Federal 
soldiers bountiful indeed. Their prison-hospitals were very far 
from being on the same footing Avith the hospitals for their own 
soldiers, and our men died by thousands from causes which the 
Federal authorities coidd have prevented. 



116 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

6. But the real cause of the suffering on both sides was the stop- 
page of the exchange of prisoners, and for this, i\\Q Federal authorities 
alone were responsible. The Confederates kej^t the cartel in good 
faith. It was broken on the other side. 

The Confederates were anxious to exchange man for man. It 
was the settled policy on the other side not to exchange prisoners. 
The Confederates offered to exchange sick and wounded. This was 
refused. In August, 1864, we offered to send home all the Federal 
sick and wounded without equivalent. The offer was not accepted 
mitil the follo^^'ing December, and it was during that period that 
the greatest mortality occurred. The Federal authorities determined 
as their war policy not to exchange prisoners, they invented every 
possible pretext to avoid it, and they at the same time sought to 
quiet the friends of their prisoners and to "fire the Northern heart" 
by most shamelessly charging that the Confederate Government 
refused to exchange, and by industriously circulating the most 
malignant stories of " Rebel barbarities" to helpless veterans of the 
Union. 

7. But the charge of cruelty made against the Confederate leaders 
is triumphantly refuted by such facts as these: The ofiicial reports 
of Secretary Stanton and Surgeon General Barnes shoAv that a 
much larger per cent, of Confederates perished in Nortliern prisons 
than of Federals in Southern prisons. And though the most per- 
sistent efforts were made to get up a case against President Davis, 
General Lee, and others (even to the extent of offering poor \\'irz a 
reprieve if he would imj^licate them), they were not able to secure 
testimony upon which even Holt and his military court dared to 
go into the trial. 

It may be well, before discussing the question in its full deti.ils, 
to introduce the 

TESTIMONY OF LEADING CONFEDERATES 

who are implicated in this charge of cruel treatment to prisoners 

And first we give a recent letter of ex-President Davis in reply 

to Mr. Blaine's charges: 

Xew Orleans, January 27, 187G, 
Hon. James Lyons : 

My Dear Friend — Your very kind letter of the 14th instant 
was forwarded from Memphis, and has been received at this place. 
I have been so long the object of malignant slander and the sub- 
ject of unscru]uilous falsehood by partisans of the class of Mr. 
Blaine, that, though I cannot say it has become to me matter 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 117 

of indifference, it has ceased to excite my surprise even in this 
instance, when it reaches the extremity of accusing me of cruelty 
to prisoners. What matters it to one whose object is personal and 
party advantage that the records, both Federal and Confederate, 
disprove the charge; that the country is full of witnesses who bear 
oral testimony against it, and that the effort to revive the bitter 
animosities of the war obstructs the progress toward the reconcilia- 
tion of the sections ? It is enough for him if his self-seeking pur- 
pose be promoted. 

It would, however, seem probable that such expectations must 
be disa|)pointed, for only those who are wilfully blind can fail to 
see in the circumstances of the case the fallacy of Mr. Blaine's 
statements. The published fact of an attempt to suborn Wirz, 
when under sentence of death, by promising him a pardon if he 
would criminate me in regard to the Anderson ville prisoners, is con- 
clusive as to the wish of the Government to make such charge 
against me, and. the failure to do so shows that nothing could be 
found to sustain it. ^ May we not say the evidence of my innocence 
was such that Holt and Conover, with their trained band of suborned 
witnesses, dared not make against me this charge — the same which 
Wirz, for his life, would not make, but which Blaine, for the Presi- 
dential nomination, has made? 

Now let us review the leading facts of this case. The report of 
the Confederate commissioner for exchange of prisoners shows how 
jDersistent and liberal were our efforts to secure the relief of cap- 
tives. Failing in those attempts, I instructed General R. E. Lee to 
go under flag of truce and seek an interview with General Grant, to 
represent to him the suffering and death of Federal prisoners held 
by us, to explain the causes which were beyond our control, and to 
urge in the name of humanity the observance of the cartel for the 
exchange of prisoners. To this, as to all previous appeals, a deaf 
ear was turned. The interview was not granted. I will not attempt, 
from memory, to write the details of the correspondence. Lee no 
longer lives to defend the cause and country he loved so well and 
served so efficiently ; but General Grant cannot fail to remember so 
extraordinary a proposition, and his objections to executing the 
cartel are well known to the public. But whoever else may choose 
to forget my efforts in this regard, the prisoners at Andersonville 
and the delegates I permitted them to send to President Lincoln to 
plead for the resumption of exchange of prisoners cannot fail to 
remember how willing I was to restore them to their homes and to the 
comforts of which they were in need, provided the imprisoned 
soldiers of the Confederacy should be in like manner released and 
returned to us. 

This foul accusation, though directed specially against me, was 
no doul^t intended as, and naturally must be, the arraignment of 
the South, by whose authority and in whose behalf my deeds were 
done. It may be presumed that the feelings and the habits of the 
Southern soldiers were understood bv me, and in that connection 



118 SoutlLern Historical Society Pdjxrs. 

any fair mind would perceive in my con_2;ratulatory orders to the 
army after a victory, in which the troops were most commended for 
their tenderness and generosity to the womided and other captives, 
as well the instincts of the person who issued the order as the 
knightly temper of the soldiers to whom it was addressed. It is 
admitted that the prisoners in our hands were not as well provided 
for as we would, but it is claimed that we did as well for them as we 
could. Can the other side say as much? 

To the bold allegations of ill treatment of prisoners by our sidc) 
and humane treatment and adequate supplies by our opjjunents, it 
is only necessary to offer two facts — first, it ap2:»ears I'roin t!ie reports 
of the United States War Department that though we iiad sixty 
thousand more Federal prisoners than they had of Confederates, 
six thousand more of Confederates died in Northern prisons than 
died of Federals in Southern prisons; second, the want and sufier- 
ing of men in Northern prisons caused me to ask for permission to 
send out cotton and buy supplies for them. The request was 
granted, but only on condition that the cotton should be sent to 
New York and the supplies be bought there. General Beale, now 
of St. Louis, was authorized to purchase and distribute the needful 
supplies. 

Our sympathy rose with the occasion and responded to its de- 
mands — not waiting for ten years, then to vaunt itself when it could 
serve no good purpose to the sufferers. 

Under the mellowing influence of time and occasional demon- 
strations at the North of a desire for the restoration of peace and 
good will, the Southern people have forgotten much — have forgiven 
much of the wl'ongs they bore. If it be less so among their in- 
vaders, it is but another example of the rule that the wrong-doer 
is less able to forgive than he who has suffered causeless wrong. 
It is not, however, generally among those who braved the hazards 
of battle that unrelenting vindictiveness is to be found. The brave 
are generous and gentle. It is tlie skulkers of the fight — the 
Blaines — who display their flags on an untented field. They made 
no sacrifice to prevent the separation of the States. Why should 
thev be expected to j^romote the confidence and good will essential 
to their union ? 

When closely confined at Fortress Monroe I was solicited to add 
my name to those of many esteemed gentlemen who had signed a 
petition for my pardon, and an assurance was given tliat on m^'' 
doing so the President would order my liberation. Confident of 
the justice of our cause and the rectitude of my own conduct, I 
declined to sign the petition, and remained subject to the inex- 
cusable privations and tortures which Dr. Craven has but faintly 
described. When, after two years of close confinement, I was ad- 
mitted to bail, as often as required I appeared for trial under the 
indictment found against me, but in which Mr. Blaine's fictions do 
not appear. The indictment was finally quashed on no application 
of mine, nor have I ever evaded or avoided a trial upon any charge 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 119 

the General Government might choose to bring against me, and 
have no view of the future which makes it desirable to me to be 
included in an amnesty bill. 

Viewed in the abstract or as a general question, I would be glad 
to see the repeal of all laws inflicting the penalty of political clisa- 
bilities on classes of the people that it might, as prescribed by the 
constitution, be left to the courts to hear and decide causes, and to 
affix penalties according to pre-existing legislation. The discrimi- 
nation made against our people is unjust and impolitic if the fact 
be equality and the purpose be fraternity among the citizens of the 
United States. Conviction and sentence without a hearing, without 
jurisdiction, and affixing penalties by ex post facto legislation, are 
part of the proceeding which had its appropriate end in the as- 
sumption by Congress of the Executive function of granting par- 
dons. To remove political disabilities which there was not legal 
power to impose was not an act of so much grace as to form a 
plausible pretext for the reckless diatribe of Mr. Blaine. 

The papers preserved by Dr. Stevenson happily furnish full proof 
of the causes of disease and death at Andersonville. They are now, 
I believe, in Richmond, and it is to be hoped their publication 
will not be much longer delayed. I have no taste for recrimination, 
though the sad recitals made by our soldiers returned from North- 
ern prisons can never be forgotten. And you wall remember the 
excitement those produced, and the censorious jDublications which 
were uttered against me becau'^e I would not visit on the helpless 
prisoners in our hands such barbarities as, according to reports, had 
been inflicted upon our men. 

Imprisonment is a hard lot at the best, and prisoners are prone to 
exaggerate their sufterings, and such was probably the case on both 
sides. But we did not seek by reports of committees, with photo- 
graphic illustrations, to inflame the passions of our people. How 
was it with our enemy? Let one example suffice. You may re- 
member a published report of a committee of the United States 
Congress wdiich Avas sent to Annapolis to visit some exchanged 
prisoners, and which had appended to it the photographs of some 
emaciated subjects, which were cffared as samples of prisoners re- 
turned from the South. 

When a copy of that report was received, I sent it to Colonel 
Ould, commissioner for the exchange of prisoners, and learned, as 
I anticipated, that the photographs, as far as they could be iden- 
tified, had been taken from men who were in our hospital when 
they were liberated for exchange, and whom the hospital surgeon 
regarded as convalescent, but too weak to be removed with safety 
to themselves. The anxiety of the ])risoners to be sent to their 
homes had prevailed over the objections of the surgeon. But this 
is not all, for I have recently learned from a priest who was then 
at Annapolis that the most wretched looking of these photographs 
was taken from a man who had never been a prisoner, but who 
had been left on the "sick list" at Annapolis when the command 



120 Southei'n Historical Society Papers. 

to which he was attached had passed that place on its southward 
inarch. 

Whatever may be said in extenuation of such imposture because 
of the exigencies of war, there can be no such excuse now for the 
attempts of Mr. Blaine, by gross misrepresentation and slanderous 
accusation, to revive the worst passions of the war; and it is to be 
hoped that, much as the event is to be regretted, it will have the 
good effect of evoking truthful statements in regard to this little 
understood subject from men who would have preferred to leave 
their sorrowful story untold if the subject could have been allowed 
peacefully to sink into oblivion. 

Mutual respect is needful for the common interest, is essential to 
a friendly union, and when slander is promulgated from high places 
the public welfare demands that truth should strip falsehood of its 
power for evil. 

I am, respectfully and truly, your friend, 

Jefferson Davis. 

We next introduce 

THE TESTIMONY OF OENERAL R. E. LEE, 

who was Commander-in-Chief of the Confederate armies, who has 
been widely charged with being pai-ticeps criminis in this matter, 
but whom the world will ever believe to have been as incapable of 
connivance at a cruel act as he was of the slightest departure from 
the strictest^accuracy of statement. 

The following is an extract from his sworn testimony before the 
Congressional Eeconstruction Committee : 

" Question. By Mr. Howard: 'I wish to inqure whether a'ou had 
any knowledge of the cruelties practiced toward the Union prisoners 
at Libby Prison and on Belle Isle?' Ansiver. ' I never knew that 
any cruelty was practiced, and I have no reason to believe that it 
was practiced. I can believe, and have reason to believe, that pri- 
vations may have been experienced by the prisoners, because I 
know that provision and shelter could not be provided for them.' 

" Q. ' Were you not aware that the prisoners were dying from cold 
and starvation? A. 'I Avas not.' 

"Q. ' Did these scenes come to your knowledge at all ? A. ' Never. 
No report was ever made to me about them. There was no call for 
any to be made to me. I did hear — it was mere hearsay — that 
statements had been made to the War Department, and that everj'-- 
thing had been done to relieve them that could be done, even finally 
so far as to offer to send tliem to some other points — Charleston 
was one point named — if they would be received by the United 
States authorities and taken to their homes; but whether this is 
true or not I do not know.' 

"Q. 'And of course you know nothing of the scenes of cruelty 
about which complaints have been made at those places' (Anderson- 
ville and Salisbury)? A. ' Nothing in the world, as I said before. I 



/I 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 121 

suppose they suffered for Wcant of ability on the part of the Con- 
federate States to supply their wants. At the very beginning of the 
war I knew that there was suffering of prisoners on both sides, but 
as far as I could I did everything in my power to relieve them, and 
to establish the cartel which was agreed upon.' 

"Q. 'It has been frequently asserted that the Confederate soldiers 
feel more kindly toward the Government of the United States than 
any other people of the South. What are your observations on 
that point?' A. 'From the Confedrate soldiers I have heard no ex- 
pression of any other oijinion. They looked upon the war as a 
necessary evil, and went through it. I have seen them reheve the 
wants of Federal soldiers on the field. The orders always were 
that the whole field shquld be treated alike. Parties were sent out 
to take the Federal Avounded as well as the Confederate, and the 
surgeons Avere told to treat the one as they did the other. These 
orders given by me were respected on every field.' 

"Q- ' Do you think that the good feeling on their part toward the 
rest of the people has continued since the close of the war?' A. 'I 
know nothing to the <3ontrary. I made several efforts to exchange 
the prisoners after the cartel was suspended. I do not know to 
this day which side took the initiative. I know there were constant 
complaints on both sides. I merely know it from public rumors. 
~ offered to General Grant, around Eichmond, that we should our- 
selves exchange all the prisoners in our handsS There was a com- 
iSiunication from the Christian Commission, I tnink, which reached 
me at Petersburg, and made application to me for a passport to visit 
all the prisoners South. My letter to them I suppose they have. 
I told them I had not that authority, that it could only be obtained 
from the War Department at Richmond, but tluit neither they nor 
I could relieve the sufferings of the prisoners: that the only thing 
to be done for them was to exchange them^; and, to show that I 
would do whatever was in my power, I offered them to send to City 
Point all the prisoners in Virginia and North Carolina over which 
my command extended, provided they returned an equal number 
of mine, man for man. I reported this to the War Department, 
and received for answer that they would place at my comuuind all 
the prisoners at the South if the jDroposition was accepted. I heard 
nothing more on the subject.'" ) 

The following private letter to a friend and relative was never in- 
tended for the public eye^ but may be accepted as his full convic- 
tion on this subject: 

"Lexington, Va., April 17, 1S67. 
" Dr. Charles Carter, 

"•No. 163-2 .Walnut Sf reef , PJiiladeljMa, Pa.: 

" My Dear Dr. Carter — I have received your letter of the 9th insi, 
inclosing one to you from Mr. J. Francis Fisher, in relation to cer- 
tain information which he had received from Bishop Wilmer. My 
respect for Mr. Fisher's wishes Avould induce me to reply fully to 



122 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

all his questions, but I have not time to do so satisfactorily; and, 
for reasons whicli I am sure you both will appreciate, I have a great 
repugnance to being brought before the public in any mamier. 
Sufficient information has been officially published, 1 think, to 
show that whatever sufferings the Federal prisoners at the South 
underwent, were incident to their position as prisoners, and pro- 
duced by the destitute condition of the country, arising from the 
operations of war, . ^ The law^s of the Confederate Congress and 
the orders of the War Department directed that the rations 
furnished prisoners of war should be the same in quantity and 
quality as those furnished enlisted men in the army of the Con- 
federac}^, and that the hospitals for jirisoners should be placed on 
the same footing as other Confederate States hospitals in all re- 
spects. It was the desire of the Confederate authorities to effect a 
continuous and speedy exchange of prisoners of war; for it Avas 
their true policy to do so, as their retention was not only a calamity 
to them, but a heavy expenditure of their scanty means of sub- 
sistence, and a privation of the services of a veteran arm}^ Mr. 
Fisher or Bishop Wihner has confounded my offers for the ex- 
change of prisoners with those made by Mr. Ould, the Commissioner 
of the Confederate States. It was he that offered, when all hopes 
of effecting the exchange had ceased, to deliver all the Federal sick 
and wounded, to the amount of fifteen thousand, without an equiva- 
lent, provided transportation was furnished. Previously to this, I 
think, I offered to General Grant to send into his lines all the pri- 
soners within my deijartmcnt, which then embraced Virginia and 
North Carolina, provided he would return me man for man; and 
when I informed the Confederate authorities of my proposition, I 
was told that, if it was accepted, they would place all the prisoners 
at the South at my disposal. I offered subsequently, I think to the 
committee of the United States Sanitary Commission, who visited 
Petersburg for the purpose of ameliorating the condition of their 
prisoners, to do the same. But my proposition was not accepted. 
Dr. Joseph Jones has recently published a pamphlet termed ' Re- 
searches upon Spurious Vaccination,' etc., issued from the Uni- 
versity Medical Press, Nashville, Tenn., in which he treats of cer- 
tain diseases of the Federal prisoners at Andersonville and their 
causes, which I think would be interesting to j'ou as a medical 
man, and would furnish INIr. Fislier with some of the information 
he desires. And now I wish you to understand that what I have 
written is for j^our personal information and not for puljlication, 
and to send as an expression of thanks to Mr. Fisher for his kind 
efforts to relieve the sufferings of the Southern people. 

"I am very much ol)liged to you for the prayers you offered for 
us in the days of trouble. Those days are still prolonged, and we 
earnestly look for aid to our merciful God. Should I have any use 
for the file of papers you kindly offer me I will let you know. 

'All .my family unite with me in kind regards to } our wife and 
children. And I am, very truly, your cousin, 

(Signed) ^ K. E. Lee." 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 123 



VICE-PRESIDENT ALEX. 11. STEVENS, 

in his "War Between the States," declares that the eftbrts which 
have been made to "fix the odium of cruelty and barbarity" upon 
Mr. Davis and the Confederate authorities ".constitute one of the 
boldest and baldest attempted outrages upon the truth of history 
which has ever been essayed." After briefly, but most conclusively? 
discussing the general question, INIr. Stevens continues as follows in 
reference to the Federal prisoners sent South : 

Large numbers of them were taken to Southwestern Georgia in 
1864, because it was a section most remote and secure f>'om the inva- 
ding Federal armies, and because, too, it was a country of all others 
then within the Confederate limits, not thus threatened with an in- 
vasion, most abundant with food, and all resources at command for 
the health and comfort of prisoners. They were i^ut in one stockade 
for the want of men to guard more than one. The section of country, 
moreover, was not regarded as more unhealthy, or more subject to 
malarious influences, than any in the central part of the State. 
The official order for the erection of the stockade enjoined that it 
should be in "a healthy locality, plenty of pure water, a running 
stream, and, if possible, shade trees, and in the immediate neighbor- 
hood of grist and saw mills." The very selection of the locality, 
80 far from being, as you suppose, made with cruel designs against 
the prisoners, was governed by the most humane considerations. 

Your question might, with much more point, be retorted by ask- 
ing, why were Southern prisoners taken in the dead of winter with 
their thin clothing to Camp Douglas, Rock Island and Johnson's 
Island — icy regions of the North — where it is a notorious fact that 
many of them actually froze to death ? 

As far as mortuary returns afford evidence of the general treat- 
ment of prisoners on both sides, the figures show nothing to the 
disadvantage of the Confederates, notwithstanding their limited 
supplies of all kinds, and notwithstanding all that has been said of 
the horrible sacrifice of life at Andersonville. 

It now appears that a larger number of Confederates died in 
Northern than of Federals in Southern prisons or stockades. The 
report of Mr. Stanton, as Secretary of War, on the 19th of July, 
1866, exhibits the fact that, of the Federal prisoners in Confederate 
hands during the war, only 22,576 died; while of the Confederate 
prisoners in Federal hands 26,436 died. This report does not set 
forth the exact number of prisoners held by each side respectively. 
These facts were given more in detail in a subsequent report by 
Surgeon General Barnes, of the United States Army. His report I 
have not seen, but according to a statement editorially, in the Na- 
tional Intelligencer — very high authority — it appears from the Surgeon 
General's report, that the whole number of Federal prisoners cap- 
tured by the Confederates and held in Southern prisons, from first to 



124 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

last during the war, was, in round numbers, 270,000; while the 
whole number of Confederates captured and held in prisons by the 
Federals was, in like round numbers, only 220,000. From these 
two reports it appears that, with 50,000 more prisoners in Southern 
stockades, or other modes of confinement, the deaths were nearly 
4,000 less! According to these figures, the per centum of Federal 
deaths in Southern prisons was under nine! while the per centum of 
Confederate deaths in Northern prisons was over twelve! These 
mortality statistics are of no small weight in determining on which 
side was the most neglect, cruelty and inhumanity ! v 
- But the question in this matter is, ripon whom does this tremendous 
responsibility rest of all this sacrifice of human life, with all its in- 
describable miseries and sufferings? The facts, beyond question or 
doubt, show that it rests entirely upon the authorities at Washing- 
ton! It is now well understood to have been a part of their settled 
policy in conducting th e war not to exchange prisoners. The grounds 
upon which this extraordinary course was adopted were that it 
was humanity to the men in the field, on their side, to let their 
captured comrades perish !in prison, rather than to let an equal 
number of Confederate soldiers be released on exchange to meet 
them in battle! Upon the Federal authorities, and upon them 
only, with this policy as their excuse, rests the whole of this re- 
sponsibility. To avert the indignation which the oj^en avowal of 
this policy by them at the time would have excited throughput 
the North, and throughout the civilized world, the false cry of cruelty 
towards prisoners was raised against the Confederates. This was 
but a pretext to cover their own violation of the usages of war in 
this respect among civilized nations. 

Other monstrous violations of like usages were not attempted to 
be palliated by them, or even covered by a pi*etext. These were, 
as you must admit, open, avowed and notorious! I refer only to 
the general sacking of i)rivate houses — the j)illaging of money, 
plate, jewels and other light articles of value, Avith the destruction 
of books, works of art, paintings, pictures, j)rivate manuscripts and 
family relics; but I allude, besides these things, especially to the 
hostile acts directly against property of all kinds, as well as 
outrages upon non-combatants — to the laying waste of whole sec- 
tions of countr}' ; the attempted annihilation of all the necessaries 
of life; to the wanton killing, in many instances, of farm stock 
and domestic animals; the burning of mills, factories and barns, 
with their contents of grain and forage, not sparing orchards or 
growing crops, or the implements of husbandry ; the mutilation of 
covmty and 'municipal records of great value; the extraordinary 
eff'orts made to stir up servile insurrections, involving the wide 
spread slaughter of women and children; the impious profanation 
of temples of worship, and even the brutish desecration of the 
sanctuaries of the dead! 

All these enormities of a savage character agauLst the very ex- 
istence of civilized society, and so revolting to the natural scnti- 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 125 

ments of mankind, when not thoroughly infuriated b}^ the worst 
of passions, and in open violation of modern usages in war — were 
perpetrated by the Federal armies in many places tlirougliout the 
conflict, as legitimate means in putting down the rebellion, so- 
called ! — War Between the States, vol. 2, pp. 507-510. 

We next present the 

TESTIMONY OF HON. ROBERT GULD, CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONER OF 

EXCHANGE. 

The following paper was published by Judge Ould in the National 
Intelligencer in August, 1868. It is a calm, able, truthful exposition 
of the question, which has not been and cannot be answered: 

KiCHMOND, Va., August 17, 1868. 

To THE Editors of the Xational Intelligencer : 

Gentlemen — I liave recently seen so many misrepresenta- 
tiors of the action of the late Confederate authorities in relation to 
prisoners, that I feel it due to the truth of history, and peculiarly 
incumbent on me as their agent of exchange, to 'bring to the atten- 
tion of the country the facts set forth in this paper : 



The cartel of exchange bears date July 22d, 1862. Its chief pur- 
pose was to secure the delivery of all prisoners of Avar. 

To that end, the fourth article provided that all prisoners of war 
should be discharged on parole in ten days after their capture. 
From the date of the cartel until the summer of 1863 the Confede- 
rate authorities had the excess of prisoners. During the interval 
deliveries were made as fast as the Federal Government furnished 
transportation. Indeed, upon more than one occasion I urged the 
Federal authorities to send increased means of transportation. It 
has never been alleged that the Confederate authorities tailed or 
neglected to make prompt deliveries of prisoners who were not held 
under charges, when they had the excess. On the other hand, during 
the same time the cartel was openly and notoriously violated by 
the Federal authorities. Officers and men were kept in confine- 
ment, sometimes in irons or doomed to cells, without charge or 
trial. Many officers were kept in confinement even after the no- 
tices published by the Federal authorities had declared them ex- 
changed. 

In the summer of 1863 the Federal authorities insisted upon 
limiting exchanges to such as were held in confinement on either 
side. This I resisted as being in \dolation of the cartel. Such a 
construction not only kept in confinement the excess on either side, 
but ignored all paroles which were held by the Confederate Govern- 
ment. These were very many, being the paroles of officers and 
men who had been released on capture. The Federal Government 



126 Southern Hisforical Society Papas. 

at that time held few or no paroles. They had all, or nearly all, 
been surrendered, the Confederate authorities giving prisoners as 
equivalent for them. Thus it will be seen that as long as the Con- 
federate Government had the excess of prisoners matters went on 
smoothly enough, but as soon as the posture of affairs in that re- 
spect was changed the cartel could no longer be observed. So, as 
long as the Federal Government held the paroles of Confedrate offi- 
cers and men, they were respected, and made the basis of excliange; 
but when equivalents were obtained for them, and no more were 
in hand, the paroles which were held by the Confederate authori- 
ties could not be recognized. In consequence of the position thus 
assumed by the Federal Government, the requirement of the cartel 
that all prisoners should be delivered within ten days was practi- 
cally nullified. The deliveries which were afterwards made were 
the results of special agreements. 

The Confederate authorities adhered to their position until the 
10th of August, 1864, when, moved by the sufferings of the men in 
the prisons of each belligerent, they determined to abate their just 
demand. Accordingly, on the Inst named day, I addressed the fol- 
lowing communication to Brigadier-General John E. Mulford (then 
Major), Assistant Agent of Exchange: 

KiCHMOND, August 10, 1864. 
Major John E. ^NEulford, 

Assistant Agent of Exchange : 

Sir — You have several times proposed to me to exchange 
the prisoners respectively held by the two belligerents — officer for 
officer and man for man. The same offer has also been made by other 
officials having charge of matters connected with the exchange of 
prisoners. 

This proposal has heretofore been declined by the Confederate 
authorities, they insisting upon the terms of the cartel, which 
required the delivery of the excess on either side on parole. 
In view, however, of the veiy large number of prisoners now held 
by each party, and the suffering consequent upon their continued 
confinement, I now consent to the above proposal, and agree to 
deliver to you the prisoners held in captivity by the Confederate 
authorities, provided you agree to deliver an equal number of Confed- 
erate officers and men. As ecjual numbers are delivered from time to 
time, they will be declared exchanged. This proposal is made with 
the understanding thattlie officers and men on both sides Avho have 
been longest in captivity will be first delivered, where it is prac- 
ticable. 

I shall be happy to hear from you as speedily as possible whether 
this arrangement can be carried out. 

Respectfully, your obedient servant, 

Robert Ould, 
Agent of Exchange. 



Treaimcnt of Trisoners During the War. 127 

The delivery of this letter was accompanied with a statement of 
the mortality which was hurrying so many Federal prisoners at 
Andersonville to the grave. 

On the 22d day of August, 1864, not having heard anything in 
response, I addressed a communication to Major-General E. A. 
Hitchcock, United States Commissioner of Exchange, covering a 
copy of the foregoing letter to General Mulford, and requesting an 
acceptance of my propositions. 

No ansiver ivas received to either of these letters. General IMulford, 
on the 31st day of August, 1864, informed me in writing that he 
had no communication on the subject from the United States 
authorities, and that he was not at that time authorized to make 
any answer. 

This offer, which would have instantly restored to freedom 
thousands of suffering captives — which would have released every 
Federal soldier in confinement in Confederate prisons — was not 
even noticed. Was that because the Federal officials did not deem 
it worthy of a reply, or because they feared to make one? As the 
Federal authorities at that time had a large excess of prisoners, the 
effect of the proposal which I had made, if carried out, would have 
been to release all Union prisoners, while a large number of the 
Confederates would have remained in prison, awaiting the chances of 
the capture of their equivalents. 

• 11. 

In January, 1864, and, indeed, some time earlier, it became very 
manifest that in consequence of the complication in relation to 
exchanges, the large bulk of prisoners on both sides would remain 
in captivity for many long and weary months, if not for the dura- 
tion of the war. Prompted by an earnest desire to alleviate the 
hardships of confinement on both sides, I addressed the following 
communication to General E. A. Hitchcock, United States Com- 
missioner of Exchange, and on or about the day of its date de- 
livered the same to the Federal authority : 

Confederate States of America, War Department, 
Richmond, Va., January 24, 1868. 

Major-Generad E. a. Hitchcock, 

Agent of Evchange : 

Sir — In view of the present difficulties attending the exchange 
and release of prisoners, I propose that all such on each side shall 
be attended by a proper number of their own surgeons, who, under 
rules to be established, shall be permitted to take charge of their 
health and comfort. 

I also propose that these surgeons shall act as commissaries, 
with power to receive and distribute such contributions of money, 
food, clothing and medicines as may be forwarded for the relief of 
prisoners. I further propose that these surgeons be selected by 



128 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

their own Governments, and that they shall have full liberty at any 
and all times, through the agents of exchange, to make reports not 
only of their own acts, but of any matters relating to the welfare 
of prisoners. 

Respectfully, your obedient servant, 

Robert Ould, 
Agent of Exchange. 

To this comriiunication no reply of any kind ivas ever made. I need 
not state how much suffering would have been prevented if this 
offer had been met in the spirit in which it was dictated. In ad- 
dition, the world would have had truthful accounts of the treatment 
of prisoners on both sides b}' officers of character, and thus much 
of that misrepresentation which has flooded the country would 
never have been poured forth. The jury-box in the case of Wirz 
would have had difierent witnesses, with a different story. It will 
be borne in mind that nearly all of the suffering endured by Federal 
prisoners happened after January, 1864. The acceptance of the 
proposition made by me, on behalf of the Confederate Government, 
would not only have furnished to the sick medicines and physicians, 
but to the well an abundance of food and clothing from the ample 
stores of the United States. 

The good faith of the Confederate Government in making this 
offer cannot be successfully questioned; for food and clothing (with- 
out the surgeons) were sent in 1865, and were allowed to be dis- 
tributed by Federal officers to Federal prisoners. 

Why could not the more humane proposal of January, 1864, 
have been accepted? 

III. 

When it was ascertained that exchanges could not be made, either 
on the basis of the cartel, or officer for officer and man for man, I 
was instructed b}^ the Confederate authorities to offer to the United 
States Government their sick and wounded without requiring any 
equivalents. Accordingly, in the summer of 1864, I did offer to de- 
liver from ten to fifteen thousand of the sick and wounded at the 
mouth of the Savannah river, without requiring any equivalents, 
assuring at the same time the agent of the United States, General 
Mulford,that if the number for which he might send transportation 
could not readily be made np from sick and wounded, I would 
supply the difference with well men. Although this offer was 
made in the summer of 1864, transportation was not sent to the 
Savannah river until about the middle or last of November, and 
then I delivered as many prisoners as could be transported — some 
thirteen thousand in number — amongst whom were more than five 
thousand well men. 

More than once I urged tlie mortality at Andersonville as a reason 
for haste on the part of the United States authorities. I know, per- 
sonally, that it was the purpose of the Confederate Government to 
send off from all its prisons all the sick and wounded, and to con- 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 129 

tiniie to do the same, from time to time, without requiring any 
equivalents for them. It was because the sick and wounded at 
points distant from Georgia could not be brought to Savannah 
within a reasonable time that the five thousand well men were 
substituted. 

Although the terms of my offer did not require the Federal au- 
^lorities to deliver any for the ten or fifteen thousand which I 
promised, yet some three thousand sick and wounded Avere de- 
livered by them at the mouth of the Savannah river. I call upon 
every Federal and Confederate officer and man Avho saw the cargo 
of living death, and who is familiar with the character of the de- 
liveries made by the Confederate authorities, to bear witness that 
none such was ever made by the latter, even when the very sick 
and desperately wounded alone were requested. For, on two oc- 
casions at least, such were specially asked for, and particular re- 
quest was made for those who were so desperately sick that it would 
be doubtful whether they would survive a removal a few miles 
down James river. Accordingly, the hospitals were searched for 
the worst cases, and after they were delivered they were taken to 
Annapolis, and there photographed as specimen prisoners. The 
photographs at Annapolis Avere terrible indeed; but the misery 
they portrayed was surpassed at Savannah. 

The original rolls showed that some thirty-five hundred had 
started from Northern prisons, and that death had reduced the 
number during the transit to about three thousand. The mortality 
amongst those who were delivered alive during the following three 
months was equally frightful. 

But why was there this delay between the summer and Novem- 
ber in sending transportation for sick and wounded, for whom no 
equivalents were asked? Were Union prisoners made to suff'er in 
order to aid the photographs "in firing the popular heart of the 
North?" 

IV. 

In the summer of 1864, in consequence of certain information 
communicated to me by the Surgeon-General of the Confederate 
States as to the deficiency of medicines, I offered to make purchases 
of medicines from the United States authorities, to be used exclusively 
for the relief of Federal prisoners. I offered to pay gold, cotton or 
tobacco for them, and even two or three prices if required. At the 
same time I gave assurances that the medicines would be used ex- 
clusively in the treatment of Federal prisoners; and moreover 
agreed, on behalf of the Confederate States, if it was insisted on, 
that such medicines might be brought into the Confederate lines 
by the United States surgeons, and dispensed by them. To this 
offer I never received any reply. Incredible as this appears, it is 
strictly true. 



130 Southern Historical Soeiety Papers. 



V. 

General John E. Mulford is personally cognizant of the truth of 
most, if not all, the facts which I have narrated. He was connected 
with the cartel from its date until the close of tlie war. During a por- 
tion of the time he was Assistant Agent of Exchange on the part of 
the United States. I always found him to be an honorable and truth- 
ful gentleman. While he discharged his duties with great fidelity 
to his own Government, he was kind — and I might almost say, 
tender — to Confederate prisoners. With that portion of the corre- 
spondence with which his name is connected he is, of course, fa- 
miliar. He is equally so with the delivery made at Savannah and 
its attending circumstances, and Avith the ofier I made as to the 
purchase of medicines for the Federal sick and wounded. I appeal 
to him for the truth of what I have written. There are other 
Federal corroborations to portions of my statements. They are 
found in the report of Major-General B. F. Butler to the " Committee 
on the Conduct of the War." About the last of March, 1864, I had 
several conferences with General Butler at Fortress Monroe in rela- 
tion to the difliculties attending the exchange of prisoners, and we 
reached what we both thought a tolerably satisfactory basis. 

The day that I left there General Grant arrived. General Butler 
says he communicated to him the state of the negotiations, and 
" most emphatic verbal directions were received from the Lieutenant- 
General not to take any step by which another able bodied man 
should be exchanged until further orders from him ;" and that on 
April oO, 1SG4, he received a telegram from General Grant "to re- 
ceive all the sick and wounded the Confederate authorities may 
send you, but send no more in exchange." Unless my recollection 
fails me. General Butler also, in an address to his constituents, sub- 
stantially declared that he was directed in his management of the 
question of exchange with the Confederate authorities, to put the 
matter offensively, ybr the imrpose of pr evening an exchange. 

The facts which I have stated are also well known to tlie officers 
connected with the Confederate Bureau of Exchange. 

At one time I thought an excellent opportunity was offered of 
bringing some of them to the attention of the country. I was 
named by poor Wirz as a witness in his behalf. The summons 
was issued by Chipman, the Judge Advocate of the military court. 
I obeyed the summons, and was in attendance upon the court for 
some ten days. The investigation had taken a wide range as to the 
conduct of the Confederate and Federal Governments in the matter 
of the treatment of prisoners, and I thought the time had come 
when I could put befere the world these humane ofiers of the Con- 
federate authorities, and the manner in which they had been treated. 
I so expressed myself more than once — perhaps too publicly. But 
it was a vain thought. 

Early in the morning of the day on which I expected to give my 
testimony, I received a note from Chipman, the Judge Advocate, 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 131 

requiring me to surrender my subpoena. I refused, as it was my 
protection in Washington. Without it the doors of the Old Capitol 
Prison might have opened and closed upon me. I engaged, however, 
to appear before the court, and I did so the same morning, I still 
refused to surrender my subpoena, and thereupon the Judge Advo- 
cate endorsed on it these words : " The within subpoena is hereby 
revoked ; the person named is discharged from further attendance." 
I have got the curious document before me now, signed with the 
name of " N. P. Chipman, Colonel," &c. I intend to keep it, if I 
can, as the evidence of the first case, in any court of any sort, where 
a witness who was summoned for the defence was dismissed by the 
prosecution. I hastened to depart, confident that Richmond was a 
safer place for me than the metropolis. 

Some time ago a committee was appointed by the House of 
Representatives to investigate the treatment of Union prisoners in 
Southern prisons. After the appointment of the committee — the 
Hon. Mr. Shanks, of Indiana, being its chairman — I wrote to the 
Hon. Charles A. Eldridge and the Hon. Mr. Mungen (the latter a 
member of the committee) some of the facts herein detailed. Both 
of these gentlemen made an effort to extend the authority of 
the committee so that it might inquire into the treatment of 
prisoners North as well as South, and especially that it might 
inquire into the truth of the matters which I had alleged. All 
these attempts were frustrated by the. Radical majority, although 
several of the party voted to extend the inquiry. As several thou- 
sand dollars of the money of the people have been spent by this 
committee, will not they demand that the investigation shall be 
thorough and impartial ? The House of Representatives have de- 
clined the inquiry ; let the peoj)le take it up. 

Respectfully, your obedient servant, 

Robert Ould. 

We may add to the above statement that (through the courtesy 
of Judge Ould) we now have on our table the letter-book of our 
Commissioner of Exchange, containing copies of all of his official 
letters to the Federal authorities, and they prove, beyond the 
shadow of a doubt, every point which he makes. 

If it be replied to the above testimony that President Davis, 
General Lee, Vice-President Stevens and Judge Ould were "all 
criminals in this matter," and that their testimony is thereby in- 
validated, we will not pause to defend these high-toned gentlemen, 
whom the verdict of history will pronounce as stainless as any 
public men who ever lived, but we will proceed to introduce testi- 
mony of a different character. While the Northern press was 
ringing with the charge of " Rebel barbarity to prisoners," the Con- 
federate Congress raised a joint committee of the Senate and House 



132 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

of Representatives to consider the whole subject of the treatment of 
prisoners. The Chairman was Judge J. W. C. Watson, of Holly 
Springs, Mississippi, an elder of the Presbj^terian Church and a pure 
minded, Christian gentleman, and the committee was composed of 
gentlemen of highest character, who were absolutely incapable of 
either countenancing or whitewashing cruelty to prisoners, or of sub- 
scribing their names to statements not proven to be true. After a 
full investigation, and the taking of a large volume of testimony, 
the committee submitted a report. The testimony was being 
printed when Richmond was evacuated, and was unfortunately 
consumed in the great conflagration. A few copies of the report 
were saved, and we have secured one for our archives, which we 
now give in full : 

Report of the Joint Committee of the Confederate Congrress ai)j)oiuted to 
Investigate the Condition and Treatment of Prisoners of War. 

[Presented March 3d, 1SG5.] 

The duties assigned to the committee under the several resolu- 
tions of Congress designating them, are "to investigate and report 
upon the condition and treatment of the prisoners of war respec- 
tively held by the Confederate and United Srates Governments ; 
upon the causes of their detention, and the refusal to exchange; 
and also upon the violations by the enemy of the rules of civilized 
warfare in the conduct of the war." These subjects are broad in 
extent and importance ; and in order fully to investigate and pre- 
sent them, the committee propose to continue their labors in ob- 
taining evidence, and deducing from it a truthful report of facts 
illustrative of the spirit in which the war has been conducted. 

NORTHERN PUBLICATIONS. 

But we deem it proper at this time to make a preliminar}' report, 
founded upon evidence recently taken, relating to the treatment of 
prisoners of war by both belligerents. This report is rendered spe- 
cially important, by reason of persistent efforts lately made by the 
Government of the United States, and by associations and indi- 
viduals connected or co-operating with it, to asperse the honor of 
the Confederate authorities, and to charge them with deliberate 
and wilful cruelt}^ to prisoners of war. Two publications have 
been issued at the North within the past year, and have been cir- 
culated not only in the United States, but in some parts of the 
South, and in Europe. One of these is the report of the joint select 
committee of the Northern Congress on the conduct of the war, 
known as " Report No. 67." The other purports to be a " Narra- 
tive of the privations and sufferings of United States officers and 
soldiers while prisoners of war," and is issued as a report of a com- 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 133 

mission of inquiry appointed by "The United States Sanitary 
Commission." 

This body is alleged to consist of Valentine Mptt, M. D., Edward 
Delafield, M. D., Gonverneur Morris Wilkins, Esq., Ellerslie Wal- 
lace, M. D., Hon. J. J. Clarke Hare, and Rev. Treadwell Walden. 
Although these persons are not of sufficient public importance and 
weight to give authority to their publications, yet your committee 
have deemed it proper to notice it in connection with the " Report 
No. 67," before mentioned ; because the Sanitary Commission has 
been understood to have acted, to a great extent, under the control 
and by the authority of the United States Government, and because 
their report claims to be founded on evidence taken in solemn form, 

TPIEIR SPIRIT AND INTENT. 

A candid reader of these publications will not fail to discover 
that, whether the statements they make be true or not, their sj^irit 
ig not adapted to promote a better feeling between the hostile 
powers. They are not intended for the humane purpose of ameli- 
orating the condition of the unhappy prisoners held in captivity. 
They are designed to inflame the evil passions of the North ; to 
keep up the war spirit among their own people ; to represent the 
South as acting under the dominion of a spirit of cruelty, inhu- 
manity and interested malice, and thus to vilify her people in the 
eyes of all on whom these publications can work. They are justly cha- 
racterized by the Hon. James M. Mason as belonging to that class 
of literature called the " sensational," a style of writing prevalent 
for many years at the North, and which, beginning with the writers 
of newspaper narratives and cheap fiction, has gradually extended 
itself, until it is now the favored mode adopted by medical profes- 
sors, judges of courts and reverend clergymen, and is even chosen 
.as the proper style for a report by a committee of their Congress. 

PHOTOGRAPHS. 

Nothing can better illustrate the truth of this view than the " Re- 
port No. 67," and its appendages. It is accompanied by eight pic- 
tures or photographs, alleged to represent United States prisoners of 
war returned from Richmond in a sad state of emaciation and suf- 
fering. Concerning these cases your committee will have other 
remarks, to be presently submitted. They are only alluded to now 
to show that this report does really belong to the "sensational" 
class of literature, and that, prima facie, it is open to the same criti- 
cism to which the yellow covered novels, the " narratives of noted 
highwaymen," and the " awful beacons" of the Northern book stalls 
should be subjected. 

The intent and spirit of this report may be gathered from the 
I following extract: "The evidence proves, beyond all manner of 
I doubt, a determination on the part of the Rebel authorities, delibe- 
|i rately an,d persistently practiced for a long time past, to subject 



134: Southern Historical Society Papers. 

those of our soldiers who have been so unfortunate as to fall into 
their hands to a system of treatment which has resulted in reducing 
many of those who have survived and been permitted to return to 
us to a condition, both physically and mentally, which no language 
we can use can adequately describe." (Report, p. 1.) And the}'' 
give also a letter from Edwin M. Stanton, the Northern Secretary of 
War, from which the following is an extract: "The enormity of 
the crime committed by the Rebels towards our prisoners for the 
last several months is not known or realized by our people, and 
cannot but fill with horror the civilized world when the facts are 
fully revealed. There appears to have been a deliberate system of 
savage and barbarous treatment and starvation, the result of wliich 
will be that few (if any) of the prisoners that have been in their 
hands during the past winter will ever again be in a condition to 
render any service, or even to enjoy life." (Report, p. 4.) And the 
Sanitary Commission, in their pamphlet, after picturing many 
scenes of privation and suffering, and bringing many charges of cru- 
elty against the Confederate authorities, declare as follows: "Tli« 
conclusion is unavoidable, therefore, that these privations and suf- 
ferings have been designedly iniiicted by the military and other 
authorities of the Rebel Government, and could not have been due 
to causes which such authorities could not control." (X. 95.) 

TRUTH TO BE SOUGHT. 

After examining these publications your committee approached 
the subject with an earnest desire to ascertain the truth. If their 
investigation should result in ascertaining that these charges (or 
any of them) were true, the committee desired, as far as might be 
in their poAver, and as far as they could influence the Congress, to 
remove the evils complained of and to conform to the most humane 
spirit of civilization; and if these charges were unfounded and fixlse, 
they deemed it a sacred duty without delay to present to the Con- 
federate Congress and people, and to the public eye of the en- 
lightened world, a vindication of their country, and to relieve her 
authorities from the injurious slanders brought against her by her 
enemies. With these views we have taken a considerable amount 
of testimony bearing on the subject. We have sought to obtain 
witnesses whose position or duties made them familiar with the 
facts testified to, and whose characters entitled them to full credit. 
We have not hesitated to examine Northern i)risoners of war upon 
points and experience specially within their knowledge. We now 
present the testimony taken by us, and submit a report of facts and 
inferences fairly deducible from the evidence, from the admissions 
of our enemies, and from public records of undoubted authority. 

FACTS AS TO SICK AND WOUNDED PKISONERS. 

First in order, your coinmittee will notice the charge contained 
both in "Report No. 67" and in the "sanitary" publication, founded 
on the appearance and condition of the sick prisoners sent from 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 135 

Hichmond to Annapolis and Baltimore about the last of April, 1864. 
'These are the men some of whom form the subjects of the photo- 
graphs with which the United States Congressional Committee have 
adorned their report. The disingenuous attempt is made in both 
these publications to produce the impression that these sick and 
emaciated men were Mr representatives of the general state of the 
prisoners held by the South, and that all their prisoners were being 
rapidly reduced to the same state by starvation and cruelty, and 
by neglect, ill treatment and denial of projDer food, stimulants and 
medicines in the Confederate hospitals. Your committee take 
pleasure in saying that not only is this charge proved to be wholly 
false, but the evidence ascertains facts as to the Confederate hospi- 
tals, in which Northern prisoners of war are treated, highly credi- 
table 1o the authorities which established them, and to the surgeons 
and their aids who have so humanely conducted them. The facts 
are simply these: 

The Federal authorities, in violation of the cartel, having for a 
long time refused exchange of prisoners, finally consented to a par- 
tial exchange of the sick and wounded on both sides. Accordingly 
a number of such prisoners were sent from the hospitals in Rich- 
mond. General directions had been given that none should be 
sent except those who might be expected to endure the removal 
■and passage with safety to their lives ; but in some cases the sur- 
geons were induced to depart from this rule by the entreaties of 
some officers and men in the last stages of emaciation, suffering not 
only witli excessive debility, but with "nostalgia," or homesick- 
ness, ^vhose cases were regarded as desperate, and who could not 
live if they remained, and might possibly improve if carried home. 
Thus it happened that some very sick and emaciated men were 
•carried to Annapolis, but their illness was not the result of ill treat- 
ment or neglect. Such cases might be found in any large hospital, 
North or South. They might even be found in private families, 
where the sufferer might be surrounded by every comfort that love 
could bestow. Yet these are the cases which, with hideous viola- 
tion of decency, the Northern committee have paraded in pictures 
and photographs. They have taken their own sick and enfeebled 
soldiers; have stripped them naked; have exposed them before a 
daguerreian apparatus; have pictured every shrunken limb and 
muscle; and all for the purpose, not of relieving their sufferings, 
but of bringing a false and slanderous charge against the South. 

CONFEDERATE SICK AND WOUNDED — THEIR CONDITION WHEN 
RETURNED. 

The evidence is overwhelming that the illness of these prisoners 
was not the result of ill treatment or neglect. The testimony of 
Surgeons Semple and Spence; of Assistant Surgeons Tinsley, Mar- 
riott and Miller, and of the Federal prisoners E. P. Dairy mple, 
George Henry Brown and Freeman B. Teague, ascertains this to 
the satisfaction of every candid mind. But in refuting this charge, 



1 



136 Southern Historical Society Papei'S. 



your committee are compelled by the evidence to bring a counter 
charge against the Northern authorities, which they fear will not 
be so easily refuted. In exchange, a number of Confederate sick 
and wounded prisoners have been at various times delivered at 
Richmond and at Savannah. The mortality among these on the 
passage and their condition when delivered were so deplorable as 
to justify the charge that they had been treated with inhuman ne- 
glect by the Northern authorities. 

Assistant Surgeon Tinsley testifies : " I have seen many of our 
prisoners returned from the North who were nothing but skin and 
bones. They were as emaciated as a man could be to retain life, 
and the photographs (appended to ' Report No. 67 ') would not be 
exaggerated representations of our returned prisoners to whom I 
thus allude. I saw 250 of our sick brought in on litters from the 
steamer at Rocketts. Thirteen dead bodies were brought off the 
steamer the same night. At least thirty died in one night after they 
were received." 

Surgeon Spence testifies: "I was at Savannah, and saw rather 
over three thousand prisoners received. The list showed that a 
large number had died on the passage from Baltimore to Savannah. 
The number sent from the Federal prisons was 3,500, and out of 
that number they delivered only 3,028, to the best of my recollec- 
tion. Captain Hatch can give you the exact number. Thus, about 
472 died on the passage. I was told that 67 dead bodies had been 
taken from one train of cars between Elmira and Baltimore. After 
being received at Savannah, they had the best attention possible, 
yet many died in a few days." — " In carrying out the exchange of 
disabled, sick and wounded men, we delivered at Savannah and 
Charleston about 11,000 Federal prisoners, and their physical con- 
dition compared most favorably with those we received in exchange, 
although of course the worst cases among the Confederates had been 
removed by death during the passage." 

Richard H. Dibrell, a merchant of Richmond, and a member of 
the "Ambulance Committe," whose labors in mitigating the suffer- 
ings of the wounded have been acknowledged both by Confederate 
and Northern men, thus testifies concerning our sick and wounded 
soldiers at Savannah, returned from Northern prisons and hospitals : 
"I have never seen a set of men in worse condition. They were so 
enfeebled and emaciated tliat we lifted them like little children. 
Many of them were like living skeletons. Indeed, there Avas one 
poor bo}', about 17 years old, who presented tlie most distressing 
and dei)lorable appearance I ever saw. He was nothing but skin 
and lx)ne, and besides this, he was literally eaten up with vermin. 
He died in the hospital in a few days after being removed thither, 
notwithstandhig the kindest treatment and the use of the most 
judicious nourishment. Our men were in so reduced a condition, 
that on more than one trip up on the short passage of ten miles from 
the transports to the city, as many as five died. Tlie clothing of the 
privates was in a wretched state of tatters and filtli." — "The mor- 



Ttxatment of Prisoners During the War. 137' 

tality on the passage' from Maryland was very great, as well as that 
on the passage from the prisons to the port from which they started. 
I cannot state the exact number, but I think I heard that 3,500 
were started, and we only received about 3,027." — " I have looked 
at the photographs appended to ' Report No. 67 ' of the committee 
of the Federal Congress, and do not hesitate to declare that several 
of our men were Avorse cases of emaciation and sickness than any 
represented in these photographs." 

The testimony of Mr. Dibrell is confirmed by that of Andrew 
Johnston, also a merchant of Richmond, and a member of the 
"Ambulance Committee." 

Thus it appears that the sick and wounded Federal prisoners at 
Annapolis, whose condition has been made a subject of outcry and 
of wide-spread complaint by the Northern Congress, were not in a 
worse state than were the Confederate prisoners returned from North- 
ern hospitals and prisons, of which the humanity and superior 
management are made subjects of special boasting by the United 
States Sanitary Commission! 

CONFEDERATE HOSPITALS FOR PRISONERS. 

In connection with this subject, your committee take pleasure in 
reporting the facts ascertained by their investigations concerning 
the Confederate hospitals for sick and wounded Federal prisoners. 
They have made personal examination, and have taken evidence 
specially in relation to "Hospital No. 21," in Richmond, because 
this has been made the subject of distinct charge in the publication 
last mentioned. It has been shown not only by the evidence of 
the surgeons and their assistants, but by that of Federal prisoners, 
that the treatment of the Northern j)risoners in these hospitals has 
been everything that humanity could dictate; that their wards 
have been well ventilated and clean ; their food the best that could 
be procured for them — and in fact that no distinction has been 
made between their treatment and that of our own sick and Avounded 
men. Moreover, it is proved that it has been the constant practice 
to supply to the patients, out of the hospital funds, such articles as 
milk, butter, eggs, tea and other delicacies, when they were required 
by the condition of the patient. This is proved by the testimony 
of E. P. Dalrymple of New York, George Henry Brown of Pennsyl- 
vania, and Freeman B. Teague of New HamjDshire, whose depositions 
accompany this report. 

CONTRAST. 

This humane and considerate usage was not adopted in the United 
States hospital on .Johnson's Island, where Confederate sick and 
wounded otBcers were treated. Colonel J. H. Holman thus testifies : 
"The Federal authorities did not furnish to the sick prisoners the 
nutriment and other articles which were prescribed by their own 
surgeons. All they would do was to permit the prisoners to buy 
the nutriment or stimulants needed ; and if they had no money,. 



138 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

they could not get them. I know this, for I was in the hospital 
sick myself, and I had to buy myself such articles as eggs, milk, 
flour, chickens and butter, after their doctors had prescribed them. 
And I know this was generally the case, for we had to get up a fund 
among ourselves for this purpose, to aid those who were not well 
supplied with money." This statement is confirmed by the testi- 
mony of Acting Assistant Surgeon John J. Miller, who was at John- 
son's Island for more than eight months. When it is remembered 
tliat such articles as eggs, milk and butter were very scarce and high 
priced in Richmond, and plentiful and cheap at the North, the 
contrast thus presented may well put to shame the "Sanitary Com- 
mission," and dissipate the self-complacency with which they have 
boasted of the superior humanity in the Northern prisons and 
hospitals. 

CHARGE OF ROBBING PRISONERS. 

Yourconnnittee now proceed to notice other charges in these pub- 
lications. It is said that their prisoners were habitually stripped 
of blankets and other property, on being captured. What pillage 
may have been committed on the battle-field, after the excitement 
of combat, your committee cannot know. But they feel well as- 
sured that such pillage was never encouraged by the Confederate 
generals, and bore no comparison to the wholesale robbery and 
destitution to which the Federal armies have abandoned themselves, 
in possessing jaarts of our territory. It is certain that after the 
prisoners were brought to the Lil)l)y, and other ]:>risons in Rich- 
mond, no such pillage was permitted. Onh^ articles which came 
properly under the head of munitions of war were taken from 
them. 

SHOOTING PRISONERS. 

The next charge noticed is, that the guards around tlie Libby 
Prison were in the habit of recklessly and inhumanly shooting at 
the prisoners upon the most frivolous pretexts, and that the Con- 
federate officers, so far from forbidding this, rather encouraged it, 
and made it a subject of sportive remark. This charge is wholly 
false and baseless. The " Rules and Regulations" appended to the 
deposition of Major Thomas P. Turner, expressly provide, "Nor 
shall any prisoner be fired upon by a sentinel or other person, ex- 
cept in case of revolt or attempted escape." Five or six cases 
have occurred in Avhich prisoners have been fii'ed on and killed or 
hurt; but every case has been made the subject of careful investi- 
gation and report, as will appear by the evidence. As a proper 
■ comment on this charge, your committee report that the practice 
of firing on our prisoners l)y the guards in the Northern prisons 
appears to have been indulged in to a most brutal and atrocious 
extent. See the depositions of C. C. Ilerrington, William F. Gor- 
don, Jr., J. B. McCreary, Dr. Thomas P. Hollowa}^, and John P. 
Fennell. At Fort Delaware a cruel regulation as to the use of the 
'"sinks" was made the pretext for firing on and nnirdering several 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 139 

of our men and officers, among them Lieutenant-Colonel Jones, 
who was lame, and was shot down by the sentinel while helpless 
and feeble and while seeking to explain his condition. Yet this 
sentinel was not only not punished, but was promoted for his act. 
At Camp Douglas as many as eighteen of our men are reported to 
have been shot in a single month. These facts may well produce 
a conviction, in the candid observer, that it is the North and not 
the South that is open to the charge of deliberately and wilfully 
destroying the lives of the prisoners held by her. 

MEANS FOR SECURING CLEANLINESS. 

The next charge is, that the Libby and Belle Isle prisoners were 
habitually kept in a filthy condition, and that the officers and 
men confined there were prevented from keeping themselves suffi- 
ciently clean to avoid vermin and similar discomforts. The evi- 
dence clearl}^ contradicts this charge. It is proved by the deposi- 
tions of Major Turner, Lieutenant Bossieux, Rev. Dr. McCabe, and 
others, that the prisons were kept constantly and systematically 
policed and cleansed; that in the Libby there was an ample supply 
of water conducted to each floor by the city pipes, and that the 
prisoners were not only not restricted in its use, but urged to keep 
themselves clean. At Belle Isle, for a brief season (about three 
weeks), in consequence of a sudden increase in the number of pri- 
soners, the police was interrupted, but it was soon restored, and 
ample means for washing both themselves and their clothes were 
at all times furnished to the prisoners. It is doubtless true that, 
notwithstanding these facilities, many of the prisoners were lousy 
and filthy ; but it was the result of their own habits, and not of ne- 
glect in the discipline or arrangements of the prison. Many of the 
prisoners were captured and brought in while in this condition. 
The Federal General Neal Dow well expressed their character and 
habits. When he came to distribute clothing among them, he was 
met by profane abuse ; and he said to the Confederate officer in 
charge, "You have here the scraipings and rakings of Europe.''^ That 
such men should be filthy in their habits might be expected. 

CHARGE OF WITHHOLDING AND PILLAGING BOXES. 

We next notice the charge that the boxes of provisions and cloth- 
ing sent to the prisoners from the North were not delivered to them, 
and were habitually robbed and plundered by permission of the 
Confederate authorities. The evidence satisfies your committee 
that this charge is, in all substantial points, untrue. For a period 
of about one month there was a stoppage in the delivery of boxes, 
caused by a report that tlie Federal authorities were forbidding the 
delivery of similar supplies to our prisoners. But the boxes were 
put in a warehouse, and were afterwards delivered. For some time 
no search was made of boxes from the "Sanitary Committee," in- 
tended for the prisoners' hospitals. ,But a letter was intercepted 



140 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

advising tliat money should be sent in these boxes, "as they were 
never searched;" which money was to be used in bribing the guards, 
and thus releasing the prisoners. After this it was deemed neces- 
sary to search every box, which necessarily produced some delay. 
Your committee are satisfied that if these boxes or their contents 
were robbed, the prison officials are not responsible therefor. Be- 
yond doubt, robberies were often committed by prisoners them- 
selves, to whom the contents were delivered for distril)ution to their 
owners. Notwithstanding all this alleged pillage, tlie supplies seem 
to have been sufficient to keep the quarters of the prisoners so well 
furnished that they frequently presented, in the language of a wit- 
ness, "the appearance of a large grocery store." 

THE FEDERAL COLONEL SANDERSON's TESTIMONY. 

In connection with this point, your committee refer to the testi- 
mony of a Federal officer — Colonel James M. Sanderson — whose 
letter is annexed to the deposition of Major Turner. He testifies 
to the full delivery of the clothing and supplies from the North, 
and to the humanity and kindness of the Confederate officers, spe- 
cially mentioning Lieutenant Bossieux, commanding on Belle Isle. 
His letter was addressed to the President of tlie United States Sani- 
tary Commission, and was beyond doubt received by them, having 
been forwarded by the regular flag of truce. Yet the scrupulous 
and honest gentlemen composing that commission have not found 
it convenient for their purposes to insert this letter in their publi- 
cation. Had they been really searching for the truth, this letter 
would have aided them in finding it. 

MINE UNDER THE LIBBY PRISON, 

Your committee proceed next to notice the allegation that the 
Confederate authorities had prepared a mine under the Libby 
prison, and placed in it a quantity of gunpowder for the purpose 
of blowing up the buildings, with their inmates, in case of an at- 
tempt to rescue them. After ascertaining all the facts bearing on 
this subject, your committee l^elieve that what Avas done, under the 
circumstances, will meet a verdict of approval from all whose pre- 
judices do not blind them to the truth. The state of things was 
unprecedented in history, and must be judged of according to the mo- 
tives at work and the result accomplished. A large body of Northern 
raiders, under one Colonel Dahlgren, was approaching Richmond. 
It was ascertained, by the reports of prisoners captured from them, 
and other evidence, that their design was to enter the city, to set 
fire to the buildings, public and private — for which purpose tur- 
pentine balls in great number had been prepared — to murder the 
President of tlie Confederate States and other prominent men — to 
release the prisoners of war, then numbering five or six thousand — 
to put arms into their hands, and to turn over the city to indis- 
criminate pillage, rape and slaughter. At the same time a plot 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 141 

was discovered among the prisoners to co-operate in this scheme, 
and a large number of knives and slung-shot (made by putting 
stones into woolen stockings) were detected in places of concealment 
about their quarters. To defeat a plan so diabolical, assuredly the 
sternest means were justified. If it would have been right to jDutto 
death any one prisoner attempting to escape under such circum- 
stances, it seems logically certain that it would have been equally 
right to put to death any number making such attempt. But in 
truth the means adopted were those of humanity and prevention, 
rather than of execution. The Confederate authorities felt able to 
meet and repulse Dahlgren and his raiders, if they could prevent 
the escape of the prisoners. 

The real object was to save their lives as well as those of our citi- 
zens. The guard force at the prisons Avas small, and all the local 
troops in and around Richmond were needed to meet the threatened 
attack. Had the prisoners escaped, the women and children of 
the city, as well as their homes, would have been at the merc}^ of 
five thousand outlaws. Humanity required that the most summary 
measures should be used to deter them from any attempt at escape. 

A mine was prepared under the Libby Prison; a sufficient quan- 
tity of gunpowder was put into it, and pains were taken to inform 
the prisoners that any attempt at escape made by them would be 
effectually defeated. The plan succeeded perfectly. The prisoners 
were awed and kept quiet. Dahlgren and his party were defeated 
and scattered. The danger passed away, and in a few weeks the 
gunpowder was removed. Such are the facts. Your committee do 
not hesitate to make them known, feeling assured that the con- 
science of the enlightened world and the great law of self-preserva- 
tion justify all that was done by our country and her officers. 

CHARGE OF INTENTIONAL STARVATION AND CRUELTY. 

We now proceed to notice, under one head, the last and gravest 
charge made in these publications. They assert that the Northern 
prisoners in the hands of the Confederate authorities have been 
starved, frozen, inhumanly punished, often confined in foul and 
loathsome quarters, deprived of fresh air and exercise, and neglected 
and maltreated in sickness — and that all this was done upon a de- 
liberate, wilful and long conceived plan of the Confederate Govern- 
ment and officers, for the purpose of destro3dng the lives of these 
prisoners, or of rendering them forever incapable of military service. 
This charge accuses the Southern Government of a crime so horrible 
and unnatural, that it could never have been made except by those 
ready to blacken with slander men whom they have long injured 
and hated. Your committee feel bound to reply to it calmly but 
emphatically. They pronounce it false in fact and in design ; false 
in the basis on which it assumes to rest, and false in its estimate of 
the motives which have controlled the Southern authorities. 



142 Southern Historical Society Papers. 



HUMANE POLICY OF THE CO.XFEDERATE GOVERNMENT. 

At an early period in the present contest the Confederate Govern- 
ment recognized their obhgation to treat prisoners of Avar with 
humanity and consideration. Before any laws were passed on the 
subject, the Executive Department provided such prisoners as fell 
into their hands with proper quarters and barracks to shelter them, 
and with rations the same in quantity and quality as those furnished 
to the Confederate soldiers who guarded these prisoners. They 
also showed an earnest wish to mitigate the sad condition of prison- 
ers of war, by a system of fair and prompt exchange — and the 
Confederate Congress co-operated in these humane views. By their 
act, approved on the 21st day of May, 1861, they provided that "all 
prisoners of war taken, whether on land or at sea, during the pend- 
ing hostilities with the United States, shall be transferred by the 
captors from time to time, and as often as convenient, to the De- 
partment of ^Var ; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of 
War, with the a]3proval of the President, to issue such instructions 
to the Quartermaster-General and his subordinates as shall jirovide 
for the safe custod}^ and sustenance of prisoners of war; and the 
rations furnished prisoners of ivar shall be the same in quantity and 
quality as those furnished to enlisted men in the army of the Confederacy.''^ 
Such were the declared jDurpose and policy of the Confederate Gov- 
ernment towards prisoners of war — and amid all the privations and 
losses to which their enemies have subjected them, they have sought 
to carry them into eft'ect. 

RATIONS AND GENERAL TREATMENT. 

Our investigations for this preliminary report have been confined 
chiefly to the rations and treatment of the prisoners of war at the 
Libby and other prisons in Richmond and on Belle Isle. This we 
have done, because the publications to which we have alluded refer 
chiefly to them, and because the "Report No. 67" of the Northern 
Congress plainly intimates the belief that the treatment in and 
around Richmond was worse than it was farther South. That re- 
port sa3^s: "It will be observed from the testimony, that all the 
witnesses who testify upon that point state that the treatment they 
received while confined at Columbia, South Carolina, Dalton, 
Georgia, and other places, teas far more humane than that they re- 
ceived at Richmond, where the authorities of the so-called Con- 
federacy were congregated." Report, p. 3. 

The evidence proves that the rations furnished to prisoners of 
war, in Richmond and on Belle Isle, have been never less than those 
furnished to the Confederate soldiers who guarded them, and have 
at some seasons been larger in quantity and better in quality than 
those furnished to Confederate troops in the field. This has been, 
because until February, 1864, tlie Quartermaster's Department fur- 
nished the prisoners, and often had provisions or funds when the 



Tj^eaiment of Prisoners During the War. 143 

Commissary Department was not so well provided. Once, and 
only once, for a few weeks the prisoners were without meat; but a 
larger quantity of bread and vegetable food was in consequence 
supplied to them. How often the gallant men composing the Con- 
federate army have been without meat, for even longer intervals, 
your committee do not deem it necessary to say. Not less than 
sixteen ounces of bread and four ounces of bacon, or six ounces of 
beef, together with beans and soup, have been furnished per day 
to the prisoners. During most of the time the quantity of meat 
furnished to them has been greater than these amounts ; and even 
in times of the. greatest scarcity they have received as much as the 
Southern soldiers who guarded them. The scarcity of meats and 
of bread stuffs in the South, in certain places, has been the result 
of the savage policy of our enemies in burning barns filled with 
wheat or corn, destroying agricultural implements, and driving off 
or wantonly butchering hogs and cattle. Yet amid all these priva- 
tions we have given to their prisoners the rations above mentioned. 
It is well known that this quantity of food is sufficient to keep in 
health a man who does not labor hard. All the learned disquisi- 
tions of Dr. Ellerslie Wallace on the subject of starvation might 
have been spared, for they are all founded on a false basis. It will 
be observed that few (if any) of the witnesses examined by the 
"Sanitary Commission" speak with any accuracy of the quantity 
(in weight) of the food actually furnished to them. Their state- 
ments are merely conjectural and comparative, and cannot weigh 
against the positive testimony of those who superintended the de- 
livery of large quantities of food, cooked and distributed according 
to a fixed ratio, for the number of men to be fed. 

FALSEHOODS PUBLISHED AS TO PRISONERS FREEZING ON BELLE ISLE. 

The statements of the "Sanitary Commission," as to prisoners 
freezing to death on Belle Isle, are absurdly false. According to 
that statement, it was common, during a cold spell in winter, to 
see several prisoners frozen to death every morning in the places 
in which they had slept. This picture, if correct, might well excite 
our horror; but unhappily for its sensational power, it is but a 
clumsy daub, founded on the fancy of the painter. The facts are^ 
that tents were furnished sufficient to shelter all the prisoners; that 
the Confederate commandant and soldiers on the Island were 
lodged in similar tents; that a fire was furnished in each of them; 
that the prisoners fared as well as their guards; and that only one 
of them was ever frozen to death, and he was frozen by the cruelty of 
his oivn fellotv-prisoners, who thrust him out of the tent in a freezing 
night because he was infested with vermin. The proof as to the 
healthiness of the prisoners on Belle Isle, and the small amount of 
mortality, is remarkable, and presents a fit comment on the lugu- 
brious pictures drawn by the "Sanitary Commission," either from 
their own fancies or from the fictions put forth by their false wit- 
nesses. Lieutenant Bossieux proves that from the establishment 



144 Southern Historical Society Papas. 

of the prison camp on Belle Isle in June, 1862, to the 10th of Feb- 
ruary, 1865, more than twenty thousand prisoners had been at 
various times there received, and yet that the whole number of 
deaths during this time was only one hundred and sixty-four. 
And this is confirmed by the Federal Colonel Sanderson, who 
states that the average number of deaths per month on Belle Isle 
w\as "from two to five, more frequently the lesser number." The 
sick were promjjtly removed from the Island to the hospitals in 
the city. 

CHARACTER OF THE NORTHERN WITNESSES. 

Doubtless the "Sanitary Commission" have been to some extent 
led astray by their own witnesses, whose character has been por- 
trayed by General Neal Dow, and also by the editor of the New 
York Times, who, in his issue of Januar}' 6th, 1865, describes the 
material for recruiting the Federal armies as " wretched vagabonds, 
of depraved morals, decrepit in body, without courage, self-respect 
or conscience. They are dirt}'^, disorderly, thievish and incapable." 

CRUELTY TO CONFEDERATE PRISONERS AT THE NORTH, 

In reviewing the charges of cruelty, harshness and starvation to 
prisoners, made by the North, your committee have taken testi- 
mony as to the treatment of our own officers and soldiers in the 
hands of the enemy. It gives us no pleasure to be compelled to 
speak of suffering inflicted upon our gallant men ; but the self- 
laudatory style in which the "Sanitary Commission" have spoken 
of their prisons, makes it proper that the truth should be presented. 
Your committee gladl}^ acknowledge that in many cases our pri- 
soners experienced kind and considerate treatment; but we are 
equally assured that in nearl}' all the prison stations of the North — 
at Point Lookout, Fort McHenry, Fort Delaware, Johnson's Island, 
Elmira, Camp Chase, Camp Douglas, Alton, Camp Morton, the Ohio 
Penitentiary, and the prisons of St. Louis, Missouri — our men have 
suffered from insufficient food, and have been subjected to igno- 
minious, cruel and barbarous practices, of which there is no parallel 
in anytliing that has occurred in the South. The witnesses who 
were at Point Lookout, Fort Delaware, Camp Morton and Camp 
Douglas testify that they have often seen our men picking up the 
scraps and refuse thrown out from the kitchens, with which to ap- 
pease their hunger. Dr. Herrington proves that at Fort Delaware 
unwholesome bread and water produced diarrhoni in numberless 
cases among our prisoners, and that "their sufferings were greatly 
aggravated by the regulation of the camp which forbade more than 
twenty men at a time at night to go to the sinks. I have seen as many 
as five hundred men in a row waiting their time. The consequence 
was that they were obliged to use the places where they were. 
This produced great want of cleanliness, and aggravated the disease." 
Our men were compelled to labor in unloading Federal vessels and 
in putting up buildings for Federal officers, and if they refused, 
were driven to the work with clubs." 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 145 

The treatment of Brigadier-General J. H. Morgan and his officer, 
was brnta and ignominious in the extreme. It wHlTe found 
stated in the depositions of Captain M. D. Lo^an Lieutennnt W P 
Crow, Lieutenant-Colonel James B. McCrearf !and Can ; n B ' T 
Tracy, that they were put in the Ohio PenSia?y and' ompdled 
to submit tothe treatment of felons. Their beards werHhaved 
and their hair was cut close to the head. They were confined in 
convicts' cells and forbidden to speak to each other For at em^ts 
to escape, and for other offences of a very lio-ht charactei tW wprf 
subjected to the horrible punishment o^f the drgeo^T' l/m d 
winter with the atmosphere many degrees below zero witCuf 
blanket or overcoat, they were confined^n a cell wthout fire or 
K'unt-? vf^^'^ '"^'^ poisonous air to breathe, and Lre they we?e 
kept until life was nearly extinct. Their cond tion on comiL out 
was so deplorable as to draw tears from their comrades The blood 
was oozing from their hands and faces. The treatment in the St 

teS- TwroV^"'^ A^ ^n"'^^^°^^- ^^P^^i" Williarn Sebring 
testifies. Iwo of us— A. C. Grimes and myself— were carried nnf 
into the open air in the prison yard, on the 25th of DecemberlseS 
and handcuffed to a post. Here we were kept all nivTrin sleet 
snow and cold. We were relieved in the day tim? but aS 
brought to the post and handcuffed to it in the eveS and K 
we were kept all night until the 2d of January, 1864T'wabad?v 
frost-bitten and my health was much impaired. This cruel inflic^ 

in §tTo.^s'' ^l -^^f Captain Byrnes^ Commandanr<^^kLons 
m fet. Louis. He was barbarous and insulting to the last degree '' 

OUR PRISONERS PUT INTO CAMPS INFECTED WITH SMALL-POX. 

But even a greater inhumanity than any we have mentioned w.« 
perpetrated upon our prisoners at Camp Douglas IndCWClmse 
nelT S° H ^^ f' ''^T'i? '^ T^^°^^^^« P- Holloway John^^ Fen: 

camps,'' where small-pox was TeTil^r^T4:^^^^^^^^^^^ 
this loathsome disease, and that as many as 40 new c fes oftpn ^t 
peared daily among them. Even the Federal nfflZv 1! fP," 

them to the camp protested ag^i" st tM^tlS atr^^^^^^^^^ 
Wnt?"-, ^^ ''''? '"^^ contracted the disease werTiem^'efto . 
hospital about a mile off, but the plague was ahSv Wrn^" ^ 

?Hvph' "T^i '"^''^ ^t'^^ «i^k '-^"^ wounded, have beenTruehv de 



146 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

Many of the soldiers of General Hood's army were frost-bitten 
by beinc^ kept day and night in an exposed condition before they 
were pnt into Camp Douglas. Their sufferings are truthfully 
depictJJd in the evidence. At Alton and Camp Morton the same 
inhuman practice of putting our prisoners into camps infected by 
small-pox prevailed. It was equivalent to murdering many ot 
them by the torture of a contagious disease. The insufficient rations 
at Camp Morton forced our men to appease their hunger by pound- 
ino- up and boiling bones, picking up scraps of meat and cabbage 
from the hospital slop tubs, and even eating rats and dogs, ihe 
depositions of WiUiain Ayres and J. Chambers Brent prove these 
privations. 

BARBAROUS PUNISHMENTS. 

The punishments often inflicted on our men for slight offences 
have been shameful and barbarous. They have been compelled to 
ride a plank only four inches wide, called "Morgan's horse; _ to sit 
down with their naked bodies in the snow for ten or fifteen minutes, 
and have been subiected to the ignominy of stripes from the belts 
of their guards, the pretext has been used that many ot their 
nets of cruelty have been by way of retaliation. But no evidence 
has been found to prove such acts on the part of the Confederate 
authorities It is remarkable that m the case of Colonel Streight 
and his officers, they were subjected only to the ordinary confine- 
ment of prisoners of war. No special punishment was used exc^ept 
for specific offences; and then the greatest infliction was to confine 
Colonel Streight for a few weeks in a basement room ot the Libby 
Prison, with a window, a plank floor, a stove, a fire, and plenty ot 

J* ^ 

^We do not deem it necessary to dwell further on these subjex^ts. 
Enough has been proved to sliow that great privations and sufler- 
ings Imve been borne by the prisoners on both sides. 

WHY HAVE NOT PRISONERS OF WAR BEEN EXCHANGED? 

But the question forces itself upon us why have these sufferings 
been so long continued? Why have not the prisoners of war been 
exchancred,1ind thus some of the darkest pages of history spared to 
the world'? In the answer to this question must be found the test 
of responsibility for all the sufferings, sickness and _ heart-broken 
sorrow that have visited more than eighty thousand prisoners within 
the nast two years. On this question, your committee can only 
sav that the Confederate authorties have always desii;ed a prompt 
and fair exchange of prisoners. Even before the establisliment of 
a cartel they urged such exchange, but could never effect it by 
acrreement, until'the large preponderance of prisoners m our hands 
made it the interest of the Federal authorities to consent to the 
cartel of July 22d, 1863. The ninth article of that agreement ex- 
nresslv provided that in case any misunderstanding should arise, 
it should not interrupt the release of prisoners on parole, but should be 



Treatment of Frisoners During the War. 147 

made the subject of friendly explanation. Soon after this cartel 
was established, the policy of the enemy in seducing negro slaves 
from their masters, arming them and putting white officers over 
them to lead them against us, gave rise to a few cases in which 
questions of crime under the internal laws of the Southern States 
appeared. Whether men who encouraged insurrection and murder 
could be held entitled to the privileges of prisoners of war under 
the cartel, was a grave question. But these cases were few in num- 
ber, and ought never to have interrupted the general exchange. 
We were always ready and anxious to carry out the cartel in its 
true meaning, and it is certain that the ninth article required that 
the prisoners on both sides should be released, and that the few cases 
as to which misunderstanding occurred should be left for final de- 
cision. Doubtless if the preponderance of prisoners had continued 
with us, exchanges would have continued. But the fortunes of war 
threw the larger number into the hands of our enemies. Then 
they refused further exchanges — and for twenty-two months this 
policy has continued. Our Commissioner of Exchange has made 
constant efforts to renew them. In August, 1864, he consented to a 
proposition, which had been repeatedly made, to exchange officer 
for officer and man for man, leaving the surplus in captivity. 
Though this was a departure from the cartel, our anxiety for the 
exchange induced us to consent. Yet, the Federal authorities re- 
pudiated their previous offer, and refused even this partial compli- 
ance with the cartel. Secretary Stanton, who has unjustly charged 
the Confederate authorities with inhumanity, is open to the charge 
of having done all in his power to prevent a fair exchange, and 
thus to prolong the sufferings of which he speaks; and very re- 
cently, in a letter over his signature, Benjamin F. Butler has declared 
that in April, 1864, the Federal Lieutenant-General Grant forbade 
him "to deliver to the Rebels a single able-bodied man;" and 
moreover, General Butler acknowledges that in answer to Colonel 
Quid's letter consenting to the exchange, officer for officer and man 
for man, he wrote a reply, "not diplomatically but obtrusively and 
demonstratively, not for the purpose of furthering exchange of prisoners, 
but for the purpose of preventing and stopping the exchange, and 
furnishing a ground on which we could fairly stanciy 

These facts abundantly show that the responsibility of refusing 
to exchange prisoners of war rests with the Government of the 
. United States, and the people who have sustained that Government; 
and every sigh of captivity, every groan of suffering, every heart 
broken by hope deferred among these eighty thousand prisoners, 
will accuse them in the judgment of the just. 

With regard to the prison stations at Andersonville, Salisbury 
and places south of Richmond, your committee have not made ex- 
tended examination, for reasons which have already been stated. 
We are satisfied that privation, suffering and mortality, to an extent 
much to be regretted, did prevail among the prisoners there, but 
they were not the result of neglect, still less of design on the part 



148 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

of the Confederate Government. Haste in preparation ; crowded 
quarters, prepared only for a smaller number; want of transporta- 
tion and scarcity of food, have all resulted from the pressure of the 
war, and the barbarous manner in which it has been conducted by 
our enemies. Upon these subjects your committee propose to take 
further evidence, and to report more fully hereafter. 

But even now enough is known to vindicate the South, and to 
furnish an overwhelming answer to all complaints on the part of 
the United States Government or people, that their prisoners were 
stinted in food or supplies. Their own savage warfare has wrought 
all the evil. They have blockaded our ports ; have excluded from 
us food, clothing and medicines ; have even declared medicines 
contraband of war, and have repeatedly destroyed the contents of 
drug stores and the supplies of private physicians in the country ; 
have ravaged our country, burned our houses, and destroyed grow- 
ing crops and farming implements. One of their officers (General 
Sheridan) has boasted, in his official report, that in the Shenandoah 
Valley alone he burned two thousand barns filled with wheat and 
corn; that he burned all the mills in the Avhole tract of country; 
destroyed all the factories of cloth; and killed or drove off every 
animal, even to the poultry, that could contribute to human 
sustenance. These desolations have been repeated again and again 
in different parts of the South. Thousand-s of our families have 
been driven from their homes as helpless and destitute refugees. 
Our enemies have destroyed the railroads and other means of trans- 
portation by which food could be supplied from abundant districts 
to those without it. While thus desolating our country, in viola- 
tion of the usages of civilized warfare, they have refused to exchange 
prisoners; have forced us to keep fifty thousand of their men in 
captivity, and yet have attempted to attribute to us the sufferings 
and privations caused by their own acts. We cannot doubt that, 
in the view of civilization, we shall stand acquitted, Avhile they 
must be condemned. 

In concluding this preliminary report, we will notice the strange 
perversity of interpretation which has induced the "Sanitary Com- 
mission" to affix as a motto to their pamphlet the words of the 
compassionate Redeemer of mankind: 

"For I was anhungered and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty 
and ye gave me no drink ; I was a stranger and ye took me not 
in ; naked and ye clothed me not; sick and in prison and ye visited 
me not." 

We have 5''et to learn on what principle the Federal mercenaries, 
sent with arms in their hands to destroy the lives of our people, 
to waste our land, burn our houses and barns, and drive us from 
our homes, can be regarded by us as the followers of the meek and 
lowly Redeemer, so as to claim the benefit of his words. Yet even 
these mercenaries, when taken captive by us, have been treated 
with proper humanity. The cruelties inflicted on our prisoners at 
the North may well justify us in applying to the "Sanitary Com- 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 149 

mission" the stern words of the Divine Teacher — "Thou hypocrite, 
first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou 
see clearly to cast out the moat out of thy brother's eye." 

We believe that there are many thousands of just, honorable and 
humane people in the United States, upon whom this subject, thus 
presented, will not be lost; that they will do all they can to miti- 
gate the horrors of war; to complete the exchange of prisoners, 
now happily in progress, and to prevent the recurrence of such 
Bufferings as have been narrated. And we repeat the words of the 
Confederate Congress, in their manifesto of the 14th of June, 1864: 

"We commit our cause to the enlighted judgment of the world, 
to the sober reflections of our adversaries themselves, and to the 
Bolemn and righteous arbitrament of heaven." 

Rev. William Brown, D. D., of the Central Presbyterian, writes as 
follows in his paper: 

"So far as the intentions and orders of the Confederate Govern- 
ment were concerned, no blame can rest upon it. The places se- 
lected were healthy, and the food and medicines ordered were the 
same as those assigned to our own soldiers and hospitals. . The fate 
of prisoners, especially if the number be large, is generally and una- 
voidably a hard one. When the intentions of the Government 
may be right, the neglect or tyranny of subordinates may render 
the condition of the captives miserable. We can testify from per- 
sonal observation, and from an intimate acquaintance with the 
most unimpeachable testimony, that the treatment of our soldiers 
in prison was often horrible and brutal in the extreme. A vast 
mass of evidence had been obtained by a committee appointed by 
the Confederate Senate. At the head of this committee was that 
pure minded, eminent Christian gentleman. Judge J. W. C. Wat- 
son, of Holly Springs, Mississippi. The volume of testimony 
gathered from a large number of returned prisoners, men of un- 
doubted veracity, we were invited, by the kindness of Judge Wat- 
son, to inspect. It was in the hands of the printer in Richmond 
when the memorable fire occured, at the time of its evacuation in 
April, 1865, and was unfortunately consumed in the great confla- 
gration. But Camp Douglas, Rock Island, Johnson's Island, El- 
mira, Fort Delaware, and other Federal prisons, could they find a 
tongue, would tell a tale of horror that should forever silence all 
clamor about ^Libby Prison^ and ^ Belle Isle^ and ^ Andersonville? 
At Fort Delaware the misrule and suffering were probable less than 
at any other ; yet whoever wishes to get a glimpse at the Federal 
prisons in their best estate, and under the control of 'the best 
Government the world ever saw,' let him consult '■Bonds of the 
United States Government,''^ a volume published last year by the 
Rev. I. W. K. Handy, D. D., a member of the Synod of Virginia, 
now residing near Staunton ; or let him inquire of the Rev. T. D. 
Witherspoon, D. D., another member of the same Synod, and now 



150 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

residing in Petersburg. They can both say, as victims, ' We speak 
concerning that which we know, and testify of that we have seen.' 

" It may be — we neither affirm here nor deny — that Wirz deserved 
his unhappy fate for his treatment of prisonei-s at Andersonville ; 
he was a subordinate officer, and may have abused his power. But 
whoever shall look into that whole dreadful history of the treat- 
ment of prisoners during the war, even in the light of such imper- 
fect evidence as it has been possible to obtain, will have to conclude 
that the operation of hanging ought to have been extended a great 
deal further, and not to have stopped till it reached certain very 
high quarters. The refusal of the military court to allow Judge 
Ould to appear as a witness for Wirz is to be noted as a most signifi- 
cant fact. Read his remarkable statement. He went on to Wash- 
ington city, summoned by the court to give testimony in behalf of 
this man charged with a high crime, which j^ut his life in peril. 
He was fully prepared to bring before that court certain incontes- 
tible facts which it was afraid to allow the public to hear. If they 
should only get before the world in such a conspicuous light, then 
would somebody — the coming men — have to say, ' Farewell, a long 
farewell, to all my future greatness!' And so we have the extra- 
ordinary fact, here asserted by Judge Ould (and when did criminal 
jurisprudence, even in the worst acts of Jeffries, surpass its infamy?), 
that a witness, of the highest character, summoned by the defence 
was debarred from giving testimony, and was dismissed by the 
prosecutor! 

" The reports of the Federal authorities show that a larger number 
of Confederates died in Northern than of Federal prisoners in South- 
ern prisons or stockades. The whole number of Federal prisoners 
held in Confederate prisons was, from first to last, in round numbers, 
270,000; while the whole number of Confederates held by the Fed- 
erals was, in round numbers, 220,000. But, with 50,000 more 
prisoners held by the Confederates, the deaths were actually about 
4,000 less. The number of Federal prisoners that died was 22,576; 
of Confederate prisoners, 26,436. 

"Now let the voice of truth tell where was the greater neglect, 
cruelty, inhumanity. And more than this: upon which side rests 
the tremendous responsibility of the suffering and distress from the 
long imprisonment of so many thousands of soldiers? Do not the 
facts show, beyond a question, that it rests solely upon tlie authori- 
ties at Washington? The source of the documents referred to is 
of the most responsible character. The standing of Judge Ould 
and Alexander H. Stevens before the world is such as to leave no 
excuse for disregarding them. Besides this, they make a straight- 
forward issue ; they quote or point to their authorities for what 
they say, and calmly challenge contradiction. The documents 
were, after the surrender of General Lee, delivered over to the 
Federal Government, and are now on file in the city of Washing- 
ton. If the letters quoted or referred to by Judge Ould are not 
official or genuine, their falsity can easily be shown from the origi- 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 151 

nal papers. If any of his or Mr. Stephens' statements are untrue, 
the means of refutation are at hand; let them be produced." 

But we will now introduce the 

TESTIMONY OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF WAR OF THE UNITED 
STATES, MR. CHARLES A. DANA. 

In an editorial in his paper, the New York Sun, Mr. Dana, after 
speaking of the bitterness of feeling towards Mr. Davis at the North, 
thus comments on his recent letter to Mr. Lyons : 

This letter shows clearly, we think, that the Confederate authori- 
ties, and especially Mr. Davis, ought not to be held responsible for 
the terrible privations, sufferings and injuries which our men had 
to endure while they were kept in the Confederate military prisons. 
The fact is unquestionable that while the Confederates desired to 
exchange prisoners, to send our men home and to get back their 
own, General Grant steadily and strenuously resisted such an ex- 
change. While, in his opinion, the prisoners in our hands were 
well fed, and were in better condition than when they were cap- 
tured, our prisoners in the South were ill fed, and would be restored 
to us too much exhaused by famine and disease to form a fair set- 
off against the comparative vigorous men who would be given in 
exchange. "It is hard on our men held in Southern prisons," said 
Grant in an official communication, "not to exchange them; but it 
is humane to those left in the ranks to fight our battles. If we 
commence a system of exchanges which liberates all prisoners 
taken, we will have to fight on until the whole South is exter- 
minated. If we hold those caught, they count for no more than 
dead men." " I did not," he said on another occasion, " deem it justi- 
fiable or just to reinforce the enemy; and an immediate resumption 
of exchanges would have had that effect without any corresponding 
benefit." 

This evidence must be taken as conclusive. It proves that it was 
not the Confederate authorities who insisted on keeping our pri- 
soners in distress, want and disease, but the commander of our own 
armies. We do not say that his reason for this course was not 
valid; but it was not Jefferson Davis, or any subordinate or asso- 
ciate of his, who should now be condemned for it. We were re- 
Bponsible ourselves for the continued detention of our captives in 
misery, starvation and sickness in the South, 

Moreover, there is no evidence whatever that it was practicable 
for the Confederate authorities to feed our prisoners any better than 
they were fed, or to give them better care and attention than they 
received. The food was insufficient; the care and attention were in- 
sufficient, no doubt; and yet the condition of our prisoners was not 
worse than that of the Confederate soldiers in the field, except in 
80 far as the condition of those in prison must of necessity be worse 
than that of men who are free and active outside. 



152 SoiUhern Historical Society Papers. 

Again, in reference to those cases of extreme suffering and dis- 
ease, the photographs of whose victims were so extensively circu- 
lated among us toward the end of the war, Mr. Davis makes, it 
seems to us, a good answer. Those very unfortunate men were 
not taken from prisons, but from Confederate hospitals, where they 
had received the same medical treatment as was given to sick and 
wounded Confederate soldiers. The fact mentioned by Mr. Davis 
that while they had 60,000 more prisoners of ours than we had of 
theirs, the i^umber of Confederates who died in our prisons exceeded 
by 6,000 the whole number of Union soldiers who died in Southern 
prisons, though not entirely conclusive, since our men were gene- 
rally better fed and in better health than theirs, still furnishes a 
strong support to the position that, upon the whole, our men were 
not used Avith greater severity or subjected to greater privations 
than were inevitable in the nature of the case. Of this charge, 
therefore, of cruelty to prisoners, so often brought against Mr. Davis, 
and reiterated by Mr. Blaine in his speech, we think he must be 
held altogether acquitted. 

There are other things in his letter not essential to this question, 
expressions of political opinion and intimations of views upon 
larger subjects, which it is not necessary that we should discuss. 
We are bound, however, to say that in elevation of spirit, in a sincere 
desire for the total restoration of fraternal feeling and unity between 
the once warring parts of the Republic, Mr. Davis' letter is in- 
finitely superior and infinitely more creditable to him, both as a 
statesman and a man, than anything that has recently fallen from 
such antagonists and critics of his as Mr. Blaine. 

Having produced the testimony of reliable witnesses who were in 
position to know the truth in reference to this whole question, we 
proceed to give a somewhat more detailed statement of the facts in 
reference to it. 

THE CONFEDERATE LAW. 

We have before us the " statutes at large " of the Confederate 
Congress, the general orders which eminated from the War Depart- 
ment, and the orders of the Confederate Surgeon-General in refe- 
rence to the management of hospitals. We have carefully examined 
these volumes and papers, and are unable to discover a syllable look- 
ing to or in the least degree countenancing the maltreatment of 
prisoners of war. 

As early as the 21st of May, 1861, the Confederate Congress 
passed a law which provided that "all prisoners of war taken, 
whether on land or sea, during the pending hostilities with the 
United States, shall be transferred by the captors from time to time, 
and as often as convenient, to the Department of War; and it shall be 
the duty of the Secretary of War, with the approval of the President, 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 153 

to issue such instructions to the Quartermaster- General and his subor- 
dinates as shall provide for the safe custody and sustenance of 
prisoners of war; and the rations furnished prisoners of war shall he 
the same in quantity and quality as those furnished to enlisted men in the 
army of the Confederacy.'''' 

This law of the Confederate Congress was embodied in the orders 
issued from the War Department, and from the headquarters in 
the field, and we defy the production of a single order from any 
Confederate Department which militates against this humane pro- 
vision. 

PRIVATEERS, 

The first question concerning prisoners which arose between the 
two governments, was when the privateer Savannah was captured 
on the 3d of June, 1861, off Charleston. In accordance with Mr. 
Lincoln's proclamation declaring privateering "piracy," the crew of 
the Savannah were placed in irons, and sent to New York, So 
soon as the facts were known in Richmond, Mr. Davis sent Mr. 
Lincoln, by a special messenger (Colonel Taylor), a communication, 
in which, under date of July 6th, 1861, he said: 

"Having learned that the schooner Savannah, a private armed 
vessel in the service, and sailing under a commission issued by 
authority of the Confederate States of America, had been captured 
by one of the vessels forming the blockading squadron off Charles- 
ton harbor, I directed a proposition to be made to the officer com- 
manding the squadron, for an exchange of the officers and crew of 
the Savannah for prisoners of war held by this Government, ' ac- 
cording to number and rank.' To this proposition, made on the 
19th ultimo, Captain Mercer, the officer in command of the block- 
ading squadron, made answer, on the same day, that ' the prisoners 
(referred to) are not on board of any of the vessels under my com- 
mand.' 

" It now appears, by statements made, without contradiction, in 
newspapers published in New York, that the prisoners above men- 
tioned were conveyed to that city, and have been treated not as 
prisoners of war, but as criminals ; that they have been put in 
irons, confined in jail, brought before the courts of justice on 
charges of piracy and treason; and it is even rumored that they 
have been actually convicted of the offences charged, for no other 
reason than that they bore arms in defence of the rights of this 
Government and under the authority of its commission. 

" I could not, without grave discourtesy, have made the newspa- 
per statements above referred to the subject of this communication, 
if the threat of treating as pirates the citizens of this Confederacy, 
armed for its service on the high seas, had not been contained in 



154 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

your proclamation of the 19th of April last; that proclamation, 
however, seems to afford a sufficient justification for considering 
these published statements as not devoid of probability. 

" It is the desire of this Government so to conduct the war now 
existing as to mitigate its horrors, as far as may be possible; and, 
with this intent, its treatment of the prisoners captured by its 
forces has been marked by the greatest humanity and leniency 
consistent with public obligation. Some have been permitted to 
return home on parole, others to remain at large, under similar 
conditions, within this Confederacy, and all have been furnished 
with rations for their subsistence, such as are allowed to our own 
troops. It is only since the news has been received of the treat- 
ment of the prisoners taken on the Savannah, that I have been 
compelled to withdraw these indulgencies, and to hold the prisoners 
taken by us in strict confinement. 

"A just regard to humanity and to the honor of this Govern- 
ment now requires me to state explicitly, that, painful as will be 
the necessity, this Government will deal out to the prisoners held 
by it the same treatment and the same fate as shall be experienced 
by those captured on the Savannah ; and if driven to the terrible 
necessity of retaliation, by your execution of any of the officers or 
crew of the Savannah, that retaliation will .be extended so far as 
shall be requisite to secure the abandonment of a practice unknown 
to the warfare of civilized man, and so barbarous as to disgrace the 
nation which shall be guilty of inaugurating it. 

" With this view, and because it may not have reached you, I 
now renew the proj^osition made to the commander of the block- 
ading squadron, to exchange for the prisoners taken on the Savan- 
nah an equal number of those now held by us, according to rank." 

Colonel Taylor was permitted to go to Washington, but was re- 
fused an audience with the President, and was obliged to content him- 
self with a verbal reply from General Scott that the communication 
had been delivered to Mr. Lincoln, and that he would reply in 
writing as soon as possible. 

No answer ever came, however, and the Confederate authorities 
were compelled to select by lot from among the Federal prisoners 
in their hands a number to whom they proposed to mete out the 
same fate which |might await the crew of the Savannah. But for- 
tunately Mr. Lincoln was induced, from some cause, to recede from 
his position — albeit he never deigned an answer of any sort to Mr. 
Davis' letter — and the horrors of retaliation were thus averted. 
Although not necessary to this discussion, it may be well (in view 
of the flipancy with which Northern writers even now speak of 
"pirate Semmes"), to say that the Federal Government does not 
seem to have been influenced in this matter by any considerations 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 155 

of humanity, but rather by what occurred in the British House of 
Lords, on the 16th of May, soon after Mr. Lincoln's proclamation, 
declaring the Confederate privateers pirates, reached that country. 
On this subject the Earl of Derby said : 

" He apprehended that if one thing was dearer than another, it was 
that privateering was not piracy, and that no law could make that 
piracy, as regarded the subjects of one nation, which was not piracy 
by the law of nations. Consequently the United States must not be 
allowed to entertain this doctrine, and to call upon Her Majesty's 
Government not to interfere. He knew it was said that the United 
States treated the Confederate States of the South as mere rebels, 
and that as rebels these expeditions were liable to all the penalties 
of high treason. That was not the doctrine of this country, be- 
cause we have declared that they are entitled to all the rights of 
belligerents. The Northern States coidd not claim the rights of bellig- 
erents for themselves, and, on the other hand, deal with other parties not 
as belligerents, but as rebelsJ^ 

Lord Brougham said that " it was clear that privateering was 
not piracy by the law of nations." 

Lord Kingsdown took the same view. " What was to be the 
operation of the Presidential proclamation upon this subject was a 
matter for the consideration of the United States." But he ex- 
pressed the opinion that the enforcement of the doctrine of that 
proclamation " would be an act of barbarity which would produce 
an outcry throughout the civilized world." 

Up to this time there had been no formal cartel for the exchange 
of prisoners, and the policy of the Washington Government seemed 
to be that they would not treat with " Rebels " in any way which 
would acknowledge them as " belligerents." But many prisoners 
on both sides were released on parole, and a proposition made in 
the Confederate Congress to return the Federal prisoners taken at 
First Manassas, without any formality whatever, would doubtless 
have prevailed but for the difficulty in reference to the crew of the 
Savannah. 

The pressure upon the Federal Government by friends of the 
prisoners became so great that they were finally induced to enter 
into a cartel for the exchange of prisoners on the very basis that the 
Confederates had ofiered in the beginning. The Confederate Gen- 
eral Howell Cobb and the Federal General Wool entered into this 
arrangement on the 14th of February, 1862 — the only unadjusted 
point being that General Wool was unwilling that each party should 
agree to pay the expenses of transporting their prisoners to the 
frontier, and this he promised to refer to his Government. 



156 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

At a second interview, the 1st March, General AVool informed 
General Cobb that his Government would not consent to pay these 
expenses, and thereupon General Cobb promptly receded from his 
demand, and agreed to the terms proposed by the other side. But 
General Wool, who had said at the beginning of the negotiation, "I 
am alone clothed ivith full pmver for the purpose of arranging for the 
exchange of prisoners," was now under the necessity of stating that 
" his Government had changed his instructions." And thus the 
negotiations were abruptly broken off, and the matter left where it 
was before. The vacillating conduct of the Federal Government 
was of easy explanation and in perfect accord with their double 
dealing throughout the war. After these negotiations had begun, 
the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson had given the United 
States a considerable preponderance in the number of prisoners held 
by them, and they at once reverted to their original purpose of not 
treating with "Eebels" on equal terms. 

But Jackson's Valley campaign, the Seven Daj's Battles around, 
Richmond, and other Confederate successes again reversed the "bal- 
ance of power," and brought the Federal Government to terms to 
which the Confederate authorities were always willing. Accordingly 
negotiations were again entered into by General D. H, Hill, on the 
part of the Confederacy, and General John A. Dix, on the part of 
the United States, and the result was the adoption of the following 

Cartel. 

Haxall's Landing, on James Riveb, 
July 22, 1862. 

The undersigned, having been commissioned by the autho- 
rities they respectively represent to make arrangements for a gen- 
eral exchange of prisoners of war, have agreed to the following 
articles : 

Article I. It is hereby agreed and stipulated that all prisoners of 
war held by either party, including those taken on private armed 
vessels, known as privateers, shall be exchanged upon the condi- 
tions and terms following: 

Prisoners to be exchanged man for man and officer for officer; 
privateers to be placed upon the footing of officers and men of the 
navy. 

Men and officers of lower grades may be exchanged for officers 
of a higher grade, and men and officers of different services may 
be exchanged according to the following scale of equivalents: 

A general-commander-in-chief or an admiral shall be exchanged 
for officers of equal rank, or for sixty privates or common seamen. 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 157 

A flag-officer or major-general shall be exchanged for officers of 
equal rank, or for forty privates or common seamen. 

A commodore, carryhig a broad pennant, or a brigadier-general 
shall be exchanged for officers of equal rank, or twenty privates or 
common seamen. 

A captain in the navy or a colonel shall be exchanged for officers 
of equal rank, or for fifteen privates or common seamen. 

A lieutenant-colonel or commander in the navy shall be exchanged 
for officers of equal rank, or for ten privates or common seamen. 

A lieutenant-commander or a major shall be exchanged for offi- 
cers of equal rank, or eight privates or common seamen. 

A lieutenant or a master in the navy or a captain in the army or 
marines shall be exchanged for officers of equal rank, or six pri- 
vates or common seamen. 

Masters' mates in the navy or lieutenants or ensigns in the army 
shall be exchanged for officers of equal rank, or four privates or 
common seamen. 

Midshipmen, warrant officers in the navy, masters of merchant 
vessels and commanders of privateers shall be exchanged for offi- 
cers of equal rank, or three privates or common seamen. Second 
captains, lieutenants, or mates of merchant vessels or privateers, 
and all petty officers in the navy, and all non-commissioned officers 
in the army or marines, shall be severally exchanged for persons of 
equal rank, or for two privates or common seamen; and private 
soldiers or common seamen shall be exchanged for each other, man 
for man. 

Article II. Local, State, civil and militia rank held by persons 
not in actual military service will not be recognized, the basis of 
exchange being the grade actually held in the naval and military 
service of the respective parties. 

Article III. If citizens, held by either party on charges of disloyalty 
for any alleged civil ofience, are exchanged, it shall only be for citi- 
zens. Captured sutlers, teamsters, and all civilians in the actual 
service of either party to be exchanged for persons in similar po- 
sition. 

Article IV. All prisoners of war to be discharged on parole in ten 
days after their capture, and the prisoners now held and those 
hereafter taken to be transported to the points mutually agreed 
upon, at the expense of the capturing party. The surplus prisoners, 
not exchanged, shall not be permitted to take up arms again, nor 
to serve as military police, or constabulary force in any fort, garri- 
son or field-work held by either of the respective parties, nor as 
guards of prisoners, deposit or stores, nor to discharge any duty 
usually performed by soldiers, until exchanged under the provisions 
of this cartel. The exchange is not to be considered complete until 
the officer or soldier exchanged for has been actually restored to 
the lines to which he belongs. 

Article V. Each party, upon the discharge of prisoners of the 
other party, is authorized to discharge an equal number of their 



158 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

own officers or men from parole, furnishing at the same time to the 
other party a list of their prisoners discharged, and of their own 
officers and men relieved from parole, thus enabling each party to 
relieve from parole such of their own officers and men as the party 
may choose. The lists thus mutually furnished will keep both 
parties advised of the true condition of the exchange of prisoners. 

Article VI. The stipulations and provisions above mentioned to 
be of binding obligation during the continuance of the war, it mat- 
ters not which party may have the surplus of prisoners, the great 
principles involved being — 1st. An equitable exchange of prisoners, 
man for man, officer for officer, or officers of higher grade exchanged 
for officers of lower grade, or for privates, according to the scale of 
equivalents. 2d. That privates and officers and men of diflFerent 
services may be exchanged according to the same scale of equiva- 
lents. 3d. That all prisoners, of whatever arm of service, are to be 
exchanged or paroled in ten days from the time of their capture, if 
it be practicable to transfer them to their own lines in that time; if 
not, as soon thereafter as practicable. 4th. That no officer, soldier, 
or employee in service of either party is to be considered as ex- 
changed and absolved from his parole until his equivalent has ac- 
tually reached the lines of his friends. 5th. That the parole forbids 
the performance of field, garrison, police, or guard or constabulary 
duty. 

John A. Dix, Major- General. 

D. H. Hill, Major- General, C. S. A. 



SUPPLEMENTARY ARTICLES. 

Article VII. All prisoners of war now held on either side, and all 
prisoners hereafter taken, shall be sent with reasonable dispatch to 
A. M. Aiken's, below Dutch Gap, on the James river, in Virginia, 
or to Vicksburg, on the Mississippi river, in the State of Mississippi, 
and there exchanged or paroled until such exchange can be effected, 
notice being previously given by each party of the number of pri- 
soners it will send, and the time when they will be delivered at 
those points respectively ; and in case the vicissitudes of war shall 
change the military relations of the places designated in this article 
to the contending parties, so as to render the same inconvenient for 
the delivery and exchange of prisoners, other places, bearing as 
nearly as may be the present local relations of said places to the 
lines of said parties, shall be, by mutual agreement, substituted. But 
nothing in this article contained shall prevent the commanders of 
two opposing armies from exchanging prisoners or releasing them 
on parole at other points mutually agreed on by said commanders. 

Article VIII. For the purpose of carrying into effect the foregoing 
articles of agreement, each party will appoint two agents, to be called 
Agents for the Exchange of Prisoners of War, whose duty it shall 
be to communicate with each other, by correspondence and other- 
wise ; to prepare the lists of prisoners, to attend to the delivery of 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 159 

the prisoners at the places agreed on, and to carry out promptly, 
effectually and in good faith all the details and provisions of the said 
articles of agreement. 

Article IX. And in case any misunderstanding shall arise in re- 
gard to any clause or stipulation in the foregoing articles, it is mu- 
tually agreed that such misunderstanding shall not interrupt the 
release of prisoners on parole, as herein provided, but shall be made 
the subject of friendly explanation, in order that the object of this 
agreement may neither be defeated nor postponed. 

John A. Dix, Major-General. 

D. H. Hill, Major- General, C. S. A. 

The rigid observance of the above cartel would have prevented 
all the horrors of prison life, North and South, and have averted 
the great mortality in Southern prisons and the greater mortality 
in Northern prisons. The Confederate authorities carried out in good 
faith the provisions of the cartel until the other side had not only frequently 
violated nearly every article, but finally repudiated the cartel itself. 

Judge Quid's letter-book gives the most incontrovertible proof of 
this statement; but we reserve the detailed proofs for the present, 
and pass to consider further the 

TREATMENT OF FEDERAL PRISONERS BY THE CONFEDERATE 
AUTHORITIES. 

We have given above the testimony of General Lee — that the 
orders were to treat the whole field alike, caring for wounded 
friend and foe without discrimination, and that "these orders 
were respected on every field." Time and again, after some great 
victory, has the writer seen our brave soldiers, though well nigh 
worn out with the conflict, ministering to their wounded foes — ■ 
sharing with them their scant rations, carrying them water, binding 
up their wounds, and bearing them gently back to our field hospi- 
tals, where we gave them every attention in our power. We were 
personal witnesses of that scene at Port Republic, when Fremont, 
who had been so badly whipped by Ewell at Cross Keys the 
day before, stood idly by until Jackson had routed Shields, and then 
amused himself by shelling the Confederate ambulances and litter- 
bearers who were caring for the Federal wounded. It is by no 
means affirmed that there were not individual instances of cruelty 
to prisoners on the part of Confederate soldiers (especially in the 
latter part of the war, when their passions were aroused by the 
heart-rending stories of Federal outrages to helpless women and 
children which came from every quarter), but we do most emphati- 



160 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

cally assert that our soldiers as a class were worthy of the eulogy 
which President Davis pronounced upon them just after the Seven 
Days Battles around Richmond, in which he said, " You are fighting 
for all that is dearest to man, and though oj^posed to a foe who dis- 
regards many of the usages of war, your humanity to the wounded and 
prisoners was a fit and crowning glory to your valor.'''' 

The following well authenticated incident of a gallant Confederate 
soldier was brought out during his funeral obsequies last fall : 

"While Pickett's division was before Newbern, General Pickett 
received by flag of truce a letter from a gentleman in Boston, ac- 
comiDanied by a package of money containg $2,000, in which the 
writer stated he had a brother, a Federal officer, in the Libby Pri- 
son; that his brother was a former comrade of Pickett in the Mexi- 
can war; and appealed to him, by the friendship of their old days, 
to forward the money to his brother. The appeal touched the 
generous heart of the soldier, and he dispatched an orderly with 
the money to the officer. The orderly, tempted by the unusual 
sight of so much greenbacks, basely deserted to the enemy and es- 
caped with the booty. As soon as Pickett heard of the desertion 
he immediately went to Richmond, and by a- mortgage on his Tur- 
key Island property succeeded in borrowing $2,000, which he car- 
ried to the prisoner, with an explanation of and apology for the 
delay. The officer, when he learned by what means the General 
had raised the money, declined to accept $1,000 of it; but with 
that nice sense of honor which distinguished the true Southern 
gentleman. General Pickett compelled him to do so. The two sol- 
diers then talked over the brave old days of the past, when together 
they fought under the same flag; and as the conversation ripened 
into friendly confidence the prisoner frankly told the General that 
his object was to escape if possible, and that he intended using 
some of the money he had paid him in the efi'ort. The General 
checked him at once by telling him that he could not receive his 
confidence in such a matter; that the money was his own, and that 
he had a right to do with it as he pleased, but it would l)e improper 
for him to become a party to his plans. He then left. The pri- 
soner did escape. The war ended disastrously to the South, and 
General Pickett's estate was sold to satisfy the mortgage wliieh he 
had executed." 

This incident of the treatment which the chivalric Pickett ac- 
corded to this prisoner is by no means an isolated example of the 
readiness of Confederate officers and soldiers to do all in their 
power to alleviate the condition of prisoners. Incidents illustrating 
this might be multiplied. 

But we proceed to inquire into the treatment received by Fede- 
ral prisoners after they reached our prisons. And as the report of 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 161 

the committee of the Confederate Congress treats chiefly of the 
prisons in and around Richmond, we will speak chiefly of 

ANDERSONVILLE, 

of which Mr. Blaine says, "Libby pales into insignificance before 
Andersonville." We cannot better state the case than it has been 
done by a well known writer : 

"The site of the prison at Andersonville — a point on the South- 
western Railway, in Georgia — had been selected under an official 
order having reference to the following points: 'A healthy locality, 
plenty of pure, good water, a running stream, and if possible shade 
trees, and in the immediate neighborhood of grist and saw mills.' 
The pressure was so great at Richmond and the supplies so scant 
that prisoners were sent forward while the stockade was only about 
half finished. When the first instalment of prisoners arrived, there 
was no guard at Andersonville, and the little squad which had 
charge of them in the cars had to remain; and at no time did the 
guard, efficient and on duty, exceed fifteen hundred, to man the 
.stockade, to guard, and to do general duty and afford relief and en- 
force discipline over thirty-four thousand prisoners. 

" In regard to the sufferings and mortality among the prisoners at 
Andersonville, none of it arose from the unhealthiness of the 
locality. The food, though the same as that used by the Con- 
federate soldiers — the bread, too, being corn — was different from 
that to which they had been accustomed, did not agree with them, 
and scurvy and 'diarrhcea prevailed to a considerable extent; 
neither disease, however, was the result of starvation. That some 
prisoners did not get their allowance, although a full supply was 
sent in, is tnie. But there not being a guard sufficient to attend 
to distribution. Federal prisoners were appointed, each having a 
certain number allotted to his charge, among whom it was his duty 
to see that every man got his portion, and, as an inducement, this 
prisoner had special ftivors and advantages. Upon complaint of 
those under him, he was broke and another selected; so that it only 
required good faith on the part of these head men, thus appointed, 
to insure to each man his share. But prisoners would often sell 
their rations for whiskey and tobacco, and would sell the clothes 
from their backs for either of them. 

" In regard to sanitary regulations, there were certain prescribed 
places and modes for the reception of all filth, and a sluice was 
made to carry it off"; but the most abominable disregard was mani- 
fested 'of all sanitary regulations, and to such a degree that if a 
conspiracy had been entered into by a large number of the pri- 
soners to cause the utmost filth and stench, it could not have ac- 
complished a more disgusting result. Besides winch there was a 
large number of atrocious villians, whose outrages in robbing, beat- 
ing and murdering their fellow-prisoners must have been the cause, 
4 



162 Southern Historical Society Papers. Vll 

directly or remotel}'', of very many deaths and of an inconceivable 
amount of suffering. We must recollect that among thirty-four 
thousand prisoners, who had encountered the hardships of the 
fields of many battles, and had had wounds, there were many of 
delicate physique — many of respectability — to whom such self- 
created filth and such atrocious ruffianism would of itself cause 
despondency, disease and death; and when, in addition to this, was 
the conviction that the Federal War Department, perfectly cogni- 
zant of all this, had deliberately consigned them indefinitely to this 
condition, a consuming despair was superadded to all their other ' 
sufferings. 

" The merits of Andersonville may be summed up by saying that 
it was of unquestioned healthfulness; it was large enough and had \ 
water enough, and could have been made tolerable for the number " 
originally intended for it. It appears that the increase of that ' 
number was apparently a matter of necessity for the time ; that \ 
other sites were selected and prepared with all possible dispatch ; 
that the provisions were similar in amount and quality to those 
used by Confederate soldiers; that deficient means rendered a sup- 
ply of clothing, tents and medicines scanty; that the rules of dis- 
cipline and sanitqry regulations of the prison, i)' complied with by 
the prisoners, would have secured to each a supply of food, and have 
averted almost, if not altogether, the filth and the ruQlanism, which 
two causes, outside of unavoidable sickness, caused the great mass 
of suffering and mortality." 

We will add the following article, written by Mr. L. M. Park, of 
La Grange, Georgia, who is personally known to us as a gentleman 
of unimpeachable character, and whose testimony is of the highest 
importance, as he speaks of what he saw himself. His article was 
originally written for the Southern Magazine, and while it contains 
some expressions which are bitter against the slanderers of our 
people, we will give it entire except the concluding paragraphs: 

The "Rebel Prison Pen" at Andersonville, Georgia. 

It is the duty of every lover of justice, when he sees a gross and 
injurious calumny put into circulation which he is able to refute 
from direct knowledge, to challenge it at once, and more especially 
if it is aimed at his OAvn people, and meant to be used to their in- 
jury. It is true that in those regions for which these calumnies are 
prepared they are too generally preferred to the truth, even when 
the truth is offered ; but the duty of affirming the truth is no less f 
obligatory on those who are able to affirm it. It is with tliis view 
that the following paper is written to correct certain statements 
which recently appeared in Appletons Journal,* professing to relate 

*See September ninthly part "A Jaunt In the South." These corrections were offered to j 
that journal, but declined on the ground of personal regard for the author of " A Jaunt in the 
South," who is a regular contributor. 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. . 163 

facts gleaned during a trip to Andersonville, Georgia, concerning 
the Confederate military prison there and the treatment of Federal 
prisoners. Instead of reviewing the article in detail, I will merely 
take up, one by one, the principal false statements. 

THE WATER THE PRISONERS DRANK. 

It was my fortune to be stationed at Andersonville almost from 

the first establishment of the prison until the removal to Millen 

Georgia, or Camp Lawton, and I unhesitatingly pronounce the 

I statement that " the prisoners had to drink the water which conveyed 

the offal of three camps and two large bakeries or kitchens off" before 

j it reached them," utterly false. The guards drank of the same 

! water that quenched the prisoners' thirst, cooked their food with 

■ the same water, the same large stream or creek flowing through the 

j encampment of guards and stockade, or prison-pen, as Northern 

writers sneeringly call it. The camps of the guards all faced the 

il stream, while their sinks were far oft' in the rear, and orders were 

\ most strict not to muddy the water, much less defile it in any way, 

[ As to the offal of the bakeries, these being presided over by prisoners 

I on parole, and who did the cooking for the entire j^rison, I cannot 

believe they would pollute the water their brother j)risoners had to 

I drink. As rapidly as they could the prisoners dug wells ; iii all 

! some two hundred were dug, and purer, sweeter, colder water I 

never drank. Being on the staff of Captain Wirz, I had free access 

j to the prison at all times day or night, and whenever I wished to 

! quench my thirst, I went inside the prison and drank from one of 

ij these wells. 

1; THAT RROVIDENTTAL SPRING, SO-CALLED. 

j That " providential spring" is an impious myth, I have been in 
the prison thousands of times and never before heard it so called, 
except on reading the Herald's account of the anniversary of the 
Fulton street prayer meeting, when some pharisaically pious 
old brother recited a long rigmarole about this same "providential 
spring," and said it was planted there in direct answer to prayer. 
The gist of this spring-tale is that when the prisoners' sickness and 
suffering from thirst was at its greatest, all at once, in the twinkling 
of an eye, this spring gushed forth in direct answer to prayer. Was 
ever such blasphemy? If such was the case, , why does the spring 
still exist after it has answered its purpose? Do those rocks of 
Horeb struck by Moses to slake the children of Israel's thirst still 
exist, and at this late day the water gush forth? It is all a cock- 
and-bull story, and unlike Sterne's, one of the poorest I ever heard. 

TWO FEDERAL AND THREE REBEL PROVIDENTIAL SPRINGS. 

If my recollection serves me right, there was yet another of these 
same " providential springs" inside the stockade, and that Provi- 
dence who sends the rain alike upon the just and the unjust gave 



164 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

unto the wicked and ungodly Rebels three of these "providential 
springs;" and I am sure he did not plant ours in answer to prayer, 
for we had just as soon drunk the branch water. 

REASONS WHY THERE WERE NO BARRACKS. 



The Confederate Government has always been harshly assailed c 
for its want of humanity in not having barracks to house the pris- o 
oners from the sun and rains. A more senseless hue and cry was ^ 
never heard. How was it possible to saw timber into planks with- j 
out saw-mills ? There were two water-power mills distant three and -j 
six miles respectfully, but such rude primitive affairs undeserving I 
the name. The nearest steam saw-mill was twenty-three miles 
distant (near Smithville), the next at Reynolds, about fifty miles i 
distant; but the great bulk of the lumber used, fully two-thirds, 
was brought from Gordon, a distance of eight}' miles, ^ven if 
these mills had had the capacity to supply the necessary amount i 
of lumber, it would still have been impossible to have provided ] 
barracks for the prisoners, as all the available engines of all the 
railroads in the Confederacy were taxed to their utmost capacit}'- in ; 
transporting supplies for the army in the field and to the prisons 
But few even of the officers of the guard -had shanties, and these ; 
few were built of slabs and sheeting, which every one knows is the 
refuse of the mills. And even though there were no lack of lumber, 
Avhen we remember that there was but one solitary manufactory of 
cut nails in the limits of the Confederacy, ccrtainh' no blame could 
be attached to the authorities for not furnishing more comfortable \ 
quarters for them. Nearly every building in the encam})ment was i 
built of rough logs and covered with clap-boards split from the tree ' 
and held to their places by poles. The force of these statements is 
readily appreciated by every intelligent, unprejudiced mind. Be- 
sides, is it customary for any nation in time of war to treat their 
prisoners in a more humane manner than their own soldiers in the 
field? The inquiry becomes pertinent when we reflect that during 
the last two years of the war there was not a tent of any description 
to be found in any of the armies of the Confederacy, save such as 
were captured from the Federals. 

HOW THE STOCKADE WAS BUILT. 

The stockade was built by the negroes belonging to the neigh- 
boring farms, either hired or pressed into service by the Confederate' 
authorities to cut down the immense pine trees growing on thet 
ground intended for the stockade; and these same trees were them 
cut into proper lengths and hewn upon the spot, and then planteds 
in a dit(Ji dug four feet deep to receive them. In this manner was( 
the stockade made. Before it was completed the prisoners were 
forwarded in great numbers; and it being impossible to keep them 
in the cars, we had to put them in tlie comi)leted end of the stock-f: 
ade and double the guards, and our whole force kept ever ready 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 165 

day and night for the slightest alarm ; for at first we had only the 
shattered remnants of two regiments — the Twenty-sixth Alabama 
and the Fifty-fifth Georgia — numbering in all some three hundred 
and fifty men. This constituted the guard. In about ten days there- 
after my regiment — the First Georgia Reserves, composed of young 
boys and old men (I was not sixteen), just organized — were sent to 
take the place of the Twenty-sixth Alabama and Twenty-sixth Geor- 
gia, so they could be sent to the front for duty. In a few days after 
our arrival the 2d, 3d and 4th Georgia Reserves, all composed of lads 
and hoary -headed men (for we were reduced to the strait of " robbing 
the cradle and the grave for men to make soldiers of"), joined us as 
rapidly as they could be organized. The author of "jaunt in the 
South " says : " When the stockade was occupied in 1864, there was not 
a tree or blade of grass within it. Its reddish sand was entirely bar- 
ren, and not the smallest particle of green showed itself But now 
the surface is covered completely with underbrush ; a rich growth of 
bushes, trees and plants has covered the entire area, and where be- 
fore was a dreary desert there is now a wild and luxurious garden." 
I have before said the ground was covered with a pine forest, and the 
trees were utilized to build the stockade. Any one who has traveled 
south of Macon, Georgia, knows the pine is abundant, and in fact 
almost the only tree. In these forests the ground is covered by wire 
grass or other grass peculiar to them, 

WHY ANDERSONVILLE WAS SELECTED. 

The main reasons for locating the prison at Andersonville, after 
its first being thought the most secure place in the Confederacy 
from Yankee cavalry raids, was the abundance of the water and 
the timber whercAvith to construct the prison rapidly, and its being 
in the very heart of the grain-growing region of the South, which 
would make it less inconvenient to supply with provisions such a 
vast multitude. 

MALICIOUS EXHIBITION IN OHIO STATE CAPITOL. 

In the summer of 1867, I set out for New York, being resolved to 
live no longer in the South, where negroes were being placed over 
us by Yankee bayonets, and in their vernacular, " de bottom rail 
wuz agittin' on de top er de fence." I traveled very leisurely, and 
stopped in every city of any note on my route, and kept eyes and 
ears wide open to drink in everything. I visited the Ohio State 
Capitol at Columbus, and in the museum of curiosities were some 
small paper boxes carefully preserved in a glass case, containing 
what purported to have been the exact quality and quantity of 
rations issued per diem to each prisoner at Andersonville. In one 
box was about a pint of coarse unbolted meal, and in another about 
one tablespoonful of rice; and still another box with about two 
tablespoonsful of black peas ; and in a tiny little box was about one- 
eighth of a teaspoon of salt. Underneath it is all explained, and 



1 



166 Southern Historical Society Papers. 



sajs, among other things, "When rice was given, the peas were 
withheld ; but when they had no rice, this kind of peas was given in- 
stead." It is needless to tell how my blood boiled at such an atro- 
ciously malicious and false exhibition. No wonder the hatred of 
the North is kept alive, and the bloody chasm continually widened 
by such wickea and uncharitable displays as this in one of the 
largest and most enlightened States in the Union. 

RATIONS TO GUARDS AND PRISONERS THE SAME. 

I was for three months a clerk in the Commissary Department 
at Anderson ville, and it was my business to weigh out rations for 
the guards and prisoners alike; and I solemnly assert that the pri- 
soners got ounce for ounce and jDound for pound of just the same 
quality and quantity of food as did the guards. The State autho- 
rities of Ohio ought to blush at thus traducing and slandering a 
fallen foe, and never in the first instance to have placed on exhibition 
for preservation as truth this fabrication of partisan hate. No An- 
dersonville prisoner, unless he were lost to all sense of honor and 
shame, could make such a statement as that the rations were no 
more than the specimens shown. 

WHY THE PRISONERS WERE FED ON CORN BREAD. 

It has been charged as a crying shame upon the Confederacy by 
ignorant humanitarians that the South might at least have given^ 
the prisoners wheat bread occasionally; that they rarely ate corn' 
bread in their own land, and that the bread we issued was made of 
meal so coarse and unsifted that it caused dysentery, thereby largely 
increasing the mortality. It is well known now that the South 
dejDends very largely, and with shame I confess it, on the West for 
her bread and bacon, and the cotton belt proper makes but little 
pretension of raising wheat, for the climate, it is said, is unsuited ; 
so that the region round about Andersonville, being in the very 
heart of the cotton-growing section of Georgia, such a thing as 
feeding prisoners on flour was simply impossible, and the little 
flour that was obtained as tithes (one-tenth of all the crops raised 
was rec[uircd by our Government) was devoted entirely to the use 
of the hospitals. Not only was this true of the territory immediately 
surrounding Andersonville, but of the whole South. Our own 
armies were unsupplied with flour, and perhaps not one family in 
fifty throughout the whole land enjoyed that luxury. The guards 
ate the same bread, or rather meal ; the bread eaten by the prisoners 
being baked by regular bakers (prisoners detailed for that purpose), 
while the guards did their own cooking. The meal, however, was 
the same, and both were unsifted and in truth very coarse. I ate 
the unsifted meal ah.vays. 

THE DEAD LINE. 

Another cry of holy horror is raised every time the " Dead Line" 
is mentioned, as if this dead line was prvna facie evidence that the 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 167 

Southerners were as barbarous and cruel a race as ever blotted the 
face of earth. The civilized North, however, had the same barba- 
rous dead line in their prisons, and in fact originated the device. It 
was a necessity with u^ for we had never at one time more than 
1,200 to 1,500 guards in the four regiments fit for duty, and we had 
the keeping at one time of very nearly 40,000 prisoners. By a con- 
certed plan of onslaught they could at any time have scaled the 
walls, captured guards, and with the weapons of their keepers 
overrun the entire country, which, all south of Dalton, Georgia 
(100 miles north ot Atlanta), was left wholly unprotected save by 
gray-haired old men and 3^oung boys; and the women, children, 
and negroes, who were the only hope for the making of crops for our 
armies, would have been helplessly at their mercy. This dead line 
was clearly defined, and consisted of stakes driven into the ground 
twenty feet from the stockade walls, and on these stakes was a three- 
inch strip of plank nailed all around the inside of the prison. 
They were all notified that a step beyond this line was not prudent, 
and they were not so unwise as to venture be3^ond that limit. 

BURIAL OF DEAD PRISONERS. 

Speaking of the number and burial of the dead, the- writer of the 
aforesaid "Jaunt" says: "The authorities at the stockade who 
had charge of the interment of the Federal dead did their work 
rudely, =!= * * digging pits and burying them in." Then he 
goes on: "It is hard to comprehend the true value of the number, 
14,000; its magnitude eludes you. Fourteen thousand men would 
form a great mob, or a great army, or a great town. Here you 
have 14,000 men lying silently in^ few acres. Within these bounds 
men have suffered as greatly as have any since the world began." 
In reply to this, I would merely say the burial was the work of 
prisoners paroled especially for the purpose, both the hauling of 
the bodies to the ground, the digging of the graves, and even the 
records of the names were all done by paroled prisoners. Books 
and a tent were provided solely for the latter purpose. Owing to 
the weakness of the guard, paroled prisoners were employed for 
this duty, as we could spare no men for the purpose; and if the 
work was rudely or carelessly done, the blame rests with them. 
As compensation they were given double rations and almost entire 
freedom. As to the number of the dead, we admit that it is great, 
but statistics show that more Southern soldiers died in Northern 
prisons than Northern soldiers in Southern prisons. In vain have 
Northern writers tried to disprove this fact. 

MORTALITY NO GREATER AMONG PRISONERS THAN GUARD._ 

Great as was the mortality among the prisoners, it was no greater 
in proportion to numbers than that of the guard, which is fully 
attested by the reports of the surgeon in charge. Besides, it is well 
known to every soul that can or does read that the Confederacy, 



168 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

through their agent, Judge Ould, made frequent and tireless efforts 
to get the United States Government, through their agent. General 
Butler, to exchange. But no, the Federal authorities would not 
hear to it; but acting on the avowed and promulgated idea that 
the South, being blockaded, could not recruit her armies from 
foreign lands, while to the North the whole of Europe was opened, 
they cruelly determined not to exchange, so as to detain our soldiers 
from again fighting them, well knowing that even then we had made 
our last conscription (17 to 50 years), and when those wc had were 
killed up or in prison we would of course be overpowered. This 
was their cold-blooded, brutal policy ; and closely did they stick to it, 
even till we were almost literally wiped out, while the men they 
had fighting us were in most part hired substitutes, drafted men, 
and foreign hirelings. 

PRINCIPAL CAUSE OF MORTALITY. 

Farther, as to the mortality among the prisoners, let it be remem- 
bered that a majority of the deaths caused in our prisons was for 
want of proper medicines, which we dnl not have and could not 
get, except by blockade-running. Had the Federal Government 
any of the milk of human kindness in its composition, it would 
have acceded to our earnest request to take cotton in exchange for 
drugs to administer to their own dying soldiers. Their immense 
manufactories were lying idle for want of cotton, while we had it 
but could not use it. But as these self-same drugs and medicines 
would also be applied to the relief of our own sick soldiers, they 
determined it would be to their advantage to let all die alike, know- 
ing the South could get no more men to supply the places of the 
sick, the dying, and those they had imprisoned, so refused all over- 
tures. After using every effort and exhausting every argument to 
get an exchange, we proposed — as we had no medicines and could 
get none, except what we accidentally ran in through the blockade 
from Europe (they being declared contraband and always confiscated 
whenever captured by the blockading fleet) — we proposed to turn 
over to them all their sick, without requiring man for man, but 
giving them absolutely up, if the United States would only send 
vessels for transporting them. This was done at Camp Lawton 
(Millen, Georgia), after the prison was removed from Andersonville 
for greater security. 

EXTRACTS FROM AN OEFICER's DIARY. 

From the private journal of a Confederate officer high in com- 
mand, both at Andersonville and other Southern prisons, I glean 
the annexed facts, the first bearing directly upon the foregoing: — 
"At one time an order came to Camp Lawton to prepare 2,000 men 
for exchange. The order from Richmond was to select first the 
wounded, next the oldest prisoners and the sickly, filling up with 
healthy men according to date. This party went first to Savannah, 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 169 

as arranged, but by some mistake the ships were at Charleston, and 
the poor wretches had to be taken there; and every one who knew 
the Southern railroads in those days, and the difficulty or rather 
impossiblity to procure food for such a crowd along the road, will 
know what those poor fellows suffered. At Charleston they were 
refused, the commissioner declaring that 'he was not going to ex- 
change able-bodied men for such miserable specimens of humanity.' 
(The term used was more brutal). Finding him obdurate. Colonel 
Ould requested him to take them without exchange. This he re- 
fused with a sneering laugh, and the crowd was ordered back. 
Never did the writer of this witness such woe-begone countenances, 
in which misery and hopelessness were more strongly painted, 
than shown by those poor fellows on their return. And the curses 
leveled against the rulers who thus treated the defenders of their 
country were fearful, although certainly well deserved. As the 
stockade-gate closed upon Ihem the surgeon in charge said to the 
writer: 'Poor fellows! the world has closed upon more than half 
of them ; this disappointment will be their death-knell.' His words 
proved true. Who murdered those men? Let history answer the 
question." 

CLOTHING FOR PRISONERS. 

Again I extract from the aforesaid journal : " The Northerners 
talk so much of the cruelty of the South to the Federal prisoners. 
At one time the unfortunate prisoners were almost without cloth- 
ing, indeed some had hardly as much as common decency required. 
The South could not provide them, not being able to clothe their 
own men. An application was made to Seward. The reply was 
that 'the Federal Government did not supply clothing to prisoners 
of war.' Luckily for the poor fellows, a society in New York took 
the matter in hand, and several bales of clothing and cases of shoes 
were forwarded to Richmond, and divided, in propotion to numbers, 
among the prisons." 

CRUELTY TO PRISONERS. 

A great deal has been said of the cruelty to the prisoners inside 
the stockade. This so-called cruelty was inflicted by their own 
men. In every prison a police with a chief, all from the prisoners, was 
appointed to keep order, see to the enforcement of the regulations, 
and inquire into all offences, reporting through their chief to the 
Commandant. The punishments, such as were used in the Federal 
army, were ordered to be inflicted by these men, and some were of 
such a barbarous nature that they were prohibited with disgust by 
the Confederate officers, who substituted milder and more humane 
ones; and yet the former were in common practice in the Federal 
armies, as testified by all the prisoners. 

BLOODHOUNDS. 

Among the numerous lies invented by Northerners, and actually 
still believed by some parties to this day, was the story that the 



170 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

Confederates used to hunt and worry prisoners with bloodhounds. 
Now it is well known that the breed of bloodhounds is nearly ex- 
tinct in the South, and the large packs of those dogs alluded to by 
writers on this subject existed only in their imaginations, the pro- 
lific brains of penny-a-liners, whose vile and lying compositions 
even now abound in many so-called respectable New York papei;s. 
No public man is safe from their atrocious attacks. Among the 
various specimens of this dog alluded to by the above-named gentry, 
was the famous bloodhound of the Libby Prison. The writer has 
often seen this formidable animal, which certainly in his youth 
must have been as fine a specimen of the kind as could be met 
anywhere, but unfortunately for the thrilling portion of the accounts 
of his doings at the time of the war, the poor beast, worn out from 
old age and with hardly a tooth in his head, wandered about a 
harmless, inoffensive creature. He was the property of the Com- 
mandant of Libby, who kept him because he was a pet dog of his 
father's, and there the brute lived a pensioner in his old age. As 
to his worrying men, he could not, had he even tried, have worried 
a dfiild. The other prisons had none, not even as pensioners. 
Among the records history gives us of using those dogs to hunt 
men, it is stated that during the Florida war a number of blood- 
hounds were imported by the Federal Government from Cuba to 
hunt the Indians out of the Everglades, and- that numbers of the 
natives were worried to death by the ferocious beasts. The writer 
does not deny that Avhen a prisoner got out of the stockade trying 
to escape, if no clue could be obtained of his whereabouts, a few 
mongrel or half-bred fox-hounds were used to track him, but the 
worrying was all done in the correspondent's own brain. However, 
it suited the times and made the article sell. The only complaint 
made is that this vile and malicious lie is still, if not believed, re- 
peated by some who use it for party purposes, and thus help to 
keep up the bad feeling between North and South. 

In reference to the causes of the mortality at Andersonville, we 
have the highest medical authority, testimony which the other side 
cannot impeach, for it was on his testimony (garbled and perverted, 
it is true) that they hung Captain Wirz. Dr. Joseph Jones, now 
a professor in the Medical College at New Orleans, and then one of 
the most distinguished surgeons in the Confederate service, was 
sent to Andersonville to inspect the prison and report on the causes 
of mortality at Andersonville. He has recently sent us a MS., 
from which we make the following extract: 

Statement of Dr. Joseph Joues. 

In the specification of the first charge against Henry Wirz, for- 
merly commandant of the interior of the Confederate States mili- 
tary prison at Andersonville, during his trial before a tijiecial Military 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 171 

Commission, convened in accordance with Special Orders No. 453, War 
Department, Adjutant-General's office, Washington, August 23d, 
1865, the following is written : 

"And the said Wirz, still pursuing his wicked purpose and still 
aiding in carrying out said conspiracy, did use and caused to 
be used, for the pretended purpose of vaccination, impure and poi- 
sonous matter, which said impure and poisonous matter was then 
and there, by the direction and order of said Wirz, maliciously, 
cruelly and wickedly deposited in the arms of many of the said pri- 
soners, by reason of which large numbers of them — to wit: one hun- 
dred — lost the use of their arms; and many of them — to wit: about 
the number of two hundred — were so injured that soon thereafter they 
died; all of which he, the said Henry Wirz, well knew and ma- 
liciously intended, and, in aid of the then existing rebellion against 
the United States, with the view of weakening and impairing the 
armies of the United States; and in furtherance of the said con- 
spiracy, and with full knowledge, consent and connivance of his 
co-conspirators aforesaid, he, the said Wirz, then and there did." 

Among the co-conspirators specified in the charges were the 
surgeon of tlie post. Dr. White, and the surgeon in charge of the 
military prison hospital, R. R. Stevenson, Surgeon, C. S. A. As the 
vaccinations were made in accordance with the orders of the Sur- 
geon-General, C. S. A., and of the medical officers acting under his 
command, the charge of deliberately poisoning the Federal pri- 
soners with vaccine matter is a sweeping one; and whether in- 
tended so or not, affects every medical officer stationed at that post; 
and it appears to have been designed to go farther, and to affect 
the reputation of every one who held a commission in the Medical 
Department of the Confederate army. 

The acts of those who once composed the Medical Department 
of the Confederate army, from the efficient and laborious Surgeon- 
General to the regimental and hospital officers, need no defence at 
my hancl.s Time, with its unerring lines of historic truth, will em- 
balm their heroic labors in the cause of suffering humanity, and 
will acknowledge their untiring efforts to ameliorate the most gi- 
gantic mass of human suffering that ever fell to the lot of a beleagured. 
and distressed people. 

The grand object of the trial and condemnation of Henry Wirz 
was the conviction and execution of President Davis, General 
Robert E. Lee, and other prominent men of the Confederacy, in 
order that 'treason might be rendered forever odious and infamous.''^ 

In accordance with the direction of Dr. Samuel Preston Moore, 
formerly Surgeon-General, C. S. A., I instituted, during the months 
of August and September, 1864, a series of investigations on the 
diseases of the Federal prisoners confined in Camp Sumter, Ander- 
sonville, Georgia. 

The report which I drew up for the use of the Medical Depart- 
ment of the Confederate army, contained a truthful representation 
of the sufferings of these prisoners, and at the same time gave an 



172 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

equally truthful view of the difficulties under which the medical 
officers labored, and of the distressed and beleagured and desolated 
condition of the Southern States. 

Shortly after the close of the civil war this report, which had 
never been delivered to the Confederate authorities, on account of 
the destruction of all railroad communication with Richmond, Vir- 
ginia, was suddenly seized by the agents of the United States Gov- 
ernment conducting the trial of Henry Wirz. I have since learned 
that the United States authorities gained knowledge of the fiict that 
I had inspected Andersonville through information clandestinely 
furnished by a distinguished member of the medical profession of 
the North, who, after the close of the war, had shared the hospi- 
tality of my own home. 

It was with extreme pain that I contemplated the diversion of 
my labors, in the cause of medical science, from their true and 
legitimate object; and I addressed an earnest appeal, which ac- 
companied the report, to the Judge-Advocate, Colonel N. P. Chip- 
man, in which I used the following language: 

"Injustice to myself, as well as to those most nearly connected 
with this investigaxion, I would respectfully call the attention of 
Colonel Chipman, Judge-Advocate, U. S. A., to the fact that the 
matter which is surrendered in ol)edience to the demands of a 
power from which there is no appeal, was prepared solely for the 
consideration of the Surgeon-General, C. S. A., and was designed to 
promote the cause of humanity and to advance the interests of the 
medical profession. This being granted, I feel assured that the 
Judge-Advocate will appreciate the deep pain which the anticipa- • 
tion gives me that these labors may be diverted from their original 
mission and applied to the prosecution of criminal cases. The 
same principle which led me to endeavor to deal humanely and 
justly by these prisoners, and to make a truthful representation of 
their condition to the Medical Department of the Confederate States 
army, now actuates me in recording my belief that as far as my 
knowledge extends there was no deliberate or wilful design on the 
part of the Chief Executive, Jefferson Davis, and the highest au- 
thorities of the Confederate Government to injure the health and 
destroy the lives of these Federal prisoners. On the 21st of May, 
1861, it was enacted by the Congress of the Confederate States of 
America, 'that iill prisoners of war taken, whether on land or sea, 
during the pending hostilities with the United States, should be 
transferred l>y the captors, from time to time, as often as conve- 
nient, to the Department of War; and it should be the duty of the 
Secretary of War, with the approval of the President, to issue such 
instructions to the Quartemaster-General and his subordinates as 
shall provide for tlic safe custody and sustenance of prisoners of 
war ; and the rations furnished prisoners of war shall be the same 
in quantity and quality as those furnished enlisted men in the 
army of the Confederacy.' By act of February 17th, 1864, the 
Quartermaster-General was relieved of this duty, and the Commis- 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 173 

sary-General of Subsistence was ordered to provide for the suste- 
nance of prisoners of war. Accordinf? to General Orders No. 159, 
Adjutant and Inspector-General's office, 'Hospitals for prisoners 
of war are placed on the same footing as other Confederate States 
hospitals in all respects, and will be managed accordingly.' 

" The Federal jDrisoners were removed to southwestern Georgia in 
the early part of 1864, not only to secure a place of confinement 
more remote than Richmond and other large towns from the opera- 
tions of the United States forces, but also ' to secure a more abundant 
and easy supply of food.'' As far as my experience extends, no per- 
son who had been reared on wheat bread, and who was held in 
captivity for any length of time, could retain his health and escape 
either scurvy or diarrhoea, if confined to the Confederate ration (is- 
sued to the soldier in the field and hospital) of unbolted corn meal 
and bacon. The ;large armies of the Confederacy suffered more 
than once from scurvy; and as the war progressed, secondary 
hemorrhage and hospital gangrene became fearfully prevalent from 
the deteriorated condition of the systems of the troops, dependent 
on the prolonged use of salt meat; and but for the extra supplies 
received from home, and from the various State benevolent insti- 
tutions, scurvy and diarrhoea and dysentery would have been still 
farther prevalent. 

" It was believed by the citizens of the Southern States that the 
Confederate authorities desired to effect a continuous and speedy 
exchange of prisoners of war in their hands, on the ground that 
the retention of these soldiers in captivity was a great calamity, 
not only entailing heavy expenditure of the scanty means of sub- 
sistence, already insuflicient to support their suffering, half-starved, 
half-clad and unpaid armies, struggling in the field with over- 
whelming numbers, and embarrassing their imperfect and dilapi- 
dated lines of communication, but also as depriving them of the 
services of a veteran army, fully equal to one-third the number 
actively engaged in the field; and the history of subsequent events 
have shown that the retention in captivity of the Confederate pri- 
soners was one of the efficient causes of the final and complete 
overthrow of the Confederate Government. * * * '''' It is my 
honest belief that if the exhausted condition of the Confederate 
Government — with its bankrupt currency — with its retreating and 
constantly diminishing armies — with tlie apparent impossibility 
of filling up the vacancies by death and desertion and sickness, 
and of gathering a guard of reserves of sufficient strength to allow 
of the proper enlargement of the miHtary prison — and with a 
country torn and bleeding along all its borders — with its starving 
women and children and old men, fleeing from the desolating 
march of contending armies, crowding tlie dilapidated and over- 
burdened railroad lines, and adding to the distress and consuming 
the poor charities of those in the interior, who were harassed by 
the loss of sons and brothers and husbands, and by the fearful 
visions of starvation and undefined misery — could be fully realized, 



174 Southern Historical Society Peepers. 

much of the suffering of the Federal prisoners would be attributed 
to causes connected with the distressed condition of the Southern 
States." 

The Judge-Advocate, N. P. Chipraan, Colonel, U. S. A., was not 
only deaf to this appeal, but in liis final argument before the Mili- 
tary Commission, or so called ''^ Court,'''' whilst excluding all portions 
of my testimony which related to the distressed condition of the 
Southern States, and the efibrts of the medical officers and Con- 
federate authorities to relieve the sufferings of these prisoners of 
war, deliberately endeavored to arouse the hatred of the eatire 
North against the author of the report and the medical officers of 
the Confederate arm3^ This statejnent will be manifest from the 
following quotation, which I extract from the "arr/iunoii" of the 
Judge- Advocate before the ^^ Court :^' 

"He had called into his counsels an eminent medical gentleman, 
of high attainments in his profession, and of loyalty to the Rebel 
Government unquestioned. Amid all the details in this terrible 
tragedy there seems to me none more heartless, wanton and void 
of humanity than that revealed by the Surgeon-General, to which 
I am about to refer. I quote now from the report of this same Dr. 
Joseph Jones, which he saj'-s (Record, p. 4384) was made in the 
interest of the Confederate Government for the use of the Medical 
DejDartment, in the view that no eye would see it but that of the 
Surgeon-General. 

"After a brief introduction to his report, and to show under 
what authoritity it was made, he quotes a letter from the Surgeon- 
General, dated Surgeon-General's office, Richmond, Virginia, Au- 
gust 6th, 1S64. The letter is addressed to Surgeon I. H. White, in 
chage of the Hospital for Federal prisoners, Andersonville, Georgia, 
and is as folllows : 

"'Sir — The field of pathological investigation afforded by the 
large collection of Federal prisoners in Georgia is of great extent 
and importance, and it is believed that results of value to the pro- 
fession may be obtained by careful examination of the cfi'ects of 
disease upon a large body of men subjected to aclecided cliange of 
climate and the circumstances peculiar to prison life. The surgeon 
in charge of the hospital for Federal prisoners, together with his 
assistants, will afford every facility to Surgeon Joseph Jones in the 
prosecution of the labors ordered by the Surgeon-General. The 
medical officers will assist in the performance of such post mortems 
as Dr. Jones may indicate, in order that this great field for patho- 
logical investigation maybe exj^lored for the benefit of the Medical 
Department of the Confederate States armies. 

"'S. P. Moore, Surgeon- GeneraU 



orders from thp S. ^ Permit Suro-enn T 7 • 

-% order Of (SX:s, ^^^^---^^ '^£^^.:S 

\^ery respectfully, 
"' Captain H, \7m7 ^^ '" W xxr 

When we rpmo u 
S"^^fc^5^^^^^ ^- bee. a, 

^is profession or ree A '* 1'"^^^^^^ ^^afj ce'S"^^."^«ompetint, it is 
"pon hin,--I cTrceiv nf "^^T^^^^^ of th^ ,ioh ]"']• ^^^^tionto 
■ ^^ately pen suchliZ^ty" ^^^^^^^^e coul j ?i? l^'' '?i''''^ 
Was It not enonah 7^1 °^ instructions as fh.f • '^'^ '^^"^1 delib- 
diers ? Was ft St ° ^'''^^ «^"elly starved t 1 ^'"^^'^ ^^ ^i'- Jones 
memories bv 1 '''°''-^' ^^ have soual f f '^ ^^^^^dered oui 1] 

tiirough Coionel SX ^^^ latter was ^ ?l°";^^"^^^i 

send medical office /. " , 1' ^-^ endorsing that^> . "^ ^^^^^'^ him, 
on duty at Ande: son.ill '^' ^^^ P^'^oe Sf the con?r ".^^^^^^^^^ ^o 
tingmshed gentleman of If^ ^?^^l «e^ect at the s,m, f ^'^'^^^'-^"^ 

pose. m;?"^\7i',^!f^^-^^^-- -'^^^ ^'r^ *° ^^ 

to convey to them one nn"''''"^" ^^0 suiferinasof fhf' ^°' *^^'^^ P^^" 
suggestions for the imnro?'' '''°'^ ^^ nutr ?fous fo' f "f^^^^'^ Aiot 
purpose of this Li^^'^ovement of their s.n fo o'^^" ^o make no 
i'or no other inrn'^'.^^^' «« the lettei of In ^^fo^^i^on; for o 
vestigation nCe! 'V^^ ^'^^ ^^i gref t S"f °^ ^tself^shows 

jnent of the gnfecS ^'^ '°^" ^^^^ be^t of ^h'e .?''^^?^-^^^^^ ^'' 
tar as the STirrv^ ^ '^^0 armies 'f Th^ a 1 ® ^^^dica] Dennrf 
room, a di^f^f„<^-^-e-l was conc^tct^;t"'r"^ ?-^-' - 
Partment of the Confl?' ^° ^^ ^lade tributjl L ,? ''';®.^^^^«ecting- 
The denuncLtion?if'' ? ™^es." '"'^'"-^ ^^ ^^^^ Medical dI 



1 



j.g Southern mtorkal SooWi/ Papers. 

^^^^nd one of the most eminent savanso fearful 

EttVdtr Si" .:."«. ;»■.- "• "■— ■• 
--Sal iis-s^^^^^ 

nia and typnoia it,\L > , , gygn these all ^^^^ ^"^' , /i,.vHrpd 

andVrench armies, dnrnig ^^^f. ^^"Xordinary exertions of these 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 177 

degree the mortality, not only of gunshot wounds, but of all dis- 
eases, and especially of pneumonia, diarrhosa and dysentery. I 
have recorded numerous incontrovertible facts to show that the 
scorbutic ulcers and hospital gangrene, and the accidents from 
vaccination arising at Andersonville, were by no means new in the 
history of medicine, and that the causes which induced these dis- 
tressing affections have been active in all wars and sieges, and 
amongst all armies and navies. 

In truth, these men at Andersonville were in the condition of a 
crew at sea — confined on a foul ship, upon salt meat, and unvary- 
ing food, and without fresh vegetables. Not only so, but these un- 
fortunate prisoners were like men forcibly confined and crowded 
upon a ship tossed about on a stormy ocean — without a rudder, 
without a compass, without a guiding star, and without an appa- 
rent boundary or end to their voyage; and they reflected in their 
steadily increasing miseries the distressed condition and waning 
fortunes of a desolated and bleeding country, which was compelled, 
in justice to her own unfortunate sons, to hold their men in this 
most distressing captivity. 

The Federal prisoners received the same rations, in kind, quality 
and amount, issued to Confederate soldiers in the field. These ra- 
tions were, during the last eighteen months of the war, insufficient, 
and without that variety of fresh meat and vegetables, which would 
ward off scurvy, from soldiers as well as prisoners. As far as my 
experience extended, no body of troops could be confined exclu- 
sively to the Confederate rations of 1864 and 1865, without mani- 
festing symptoms of the scurvy. 

The Confederate rations grew worse and worse as the war pro- 
gressed, and as portion after portion of the most fertile regions of 
the Confederate States were overrun and desolated by the Federal 
armies. In the straitened condition of the Confederate States the 
support of an arnfy of one hundred thousand prisoners, forced on 
their hands by a relentless policy, was a great and distressing bur- 
den, which consumed their scant resources, burdened their rotten 
lines of railroad, and exhausted the overtaxed energies of the entire 
country, crowded with refugees from their desolated homes. 

The Confederate authorities charged witli the exchange of prisoners 
used every effort in their power, consistent with their views of 
national honor and rectitude, to effect an exchange of all prisoners 
in their hands, and to establish and maintain definite rules by 
which all prisoners of war might be continuously exchanged as 
soon as possible after capture. 

Whatever the feelings of resentment on the part of the Confede- 
rates may have been against those who were invading and desolating 
their native land, which had been purchased by the blood of their 
ancestors from the English and Indians, the desire for the speedy 
exchange and return of the great army of veterans held captives in 
Northern prisons was earnest and universal, and this desire for 
speedy and continuous exchange on the part of the Government, 

5 



178 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

as well as on the part of the people, sprang not merely from motives 
of compassion for their unfortunate kindred and fellow-soldiers, but 
also from the dictates of that policy which would exchange on the 
part of a weak and struggling people, a large army of prisoners 
(consumers and non-combatants, requiring an army for their safe 
keeping) for an army of tried veterans. 

Apart from the real facts of the case, it is impossible to conceive 
that any government in the distressed and struggling state of the 
Confederacy, could deliberately advocate any policy which would 
deprive it of a large army of veterans, and compel it to waste its 
scant supplies, already insufficient for the support of its struggling 
and retreating armies. 

And the result has shown that the destruction of the Confederate Gov- 
ernment ivas accomplished as much by the persistent retention in captivity 
of the Confederate soldiers, as by the emancipation and arming of the 
Southern slaves, and the employment of European recruits. 

After the trial of Wirz, I published a small volume, entitled 
^^ Researches upon Spurious Vaccination, or the Abnormcd PJienomena, 
accompanying and following vaccination in the Confedercde army during 
the recent civil war, 1861-1865," in which I examined the charge 
that the medical officers of the Confederate army had deliberately 
poisoned the Federal prisoners with poisonous vaccine matter. 

Copies of this work were sent to several of the most prominent 
Generals and medical officers of the Confederate army, with the 
request that they would communicate such facts, as were in their 
possession, with reference to the sufferings of the Federal and Con- 
federate prisoners. The universal testimony was to the effect that 
the sufferings of the Federal prisoners was due to causes over which 
the Confederate Government had little or no control, and that the 
sufferings and mortality amongst the Confederate prisoners confined 
in Northern prisons were equally great and deplorable. 

From this correspondence, 1 select the following letter from 
General Robert E. Lee : 



"Dr. Joseph Jones : 



"Lexington, Va., 15tli April, 18G7. 



" Dear Sir — I am much obliged to you for the copy of your 
'Researches on Spurious Vaccination,^ which I will place in the library 
of the Lexington College. I have read with attention your ex- 
amination of the charge made by the United States IMilitary Com- 
mission, that the Confederate surgeons poisoned the Federal pris- 
oners at Andersonville with vaccine matter. I believe every one 
who has investigated the afflictions of the Federal prisoners is of 
the opinion that they were incident to their condition as prisoners 
of war, and to the distressed state of the whole Southern country, 
and I fear they were fully shared by the Confederate prisoners in 
Federal prisons. 

" Very respectfully, 

''Your obedient servant, R. E. Lee." 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 179 

It appears, then, from the foregoing statements that the prison at 
Andersonville was established with a view to healthfuhiess of loca- 
tion, and that the great mortality which ensued resulted chiefly 
from the crowded condition of the stockade, the use of corn bread, 
to which the prisoners had not been accustomed, the want of va- 
riety in the rations furnished, and the want of medicines and hos- 
pital stores to enable our surgeons properly to treat the sick. As 
to the first point, the reply is at hand. The stockade at Anderson- 
ville was originally designed for a much smaller number of pri- 
soners than were afterwards crowded into it. But prisoners accu- 
mulated — after the stojDpage of exchange — in Richmond and at 
other points; the Dahlgren raid — which had for its avowed object 
the liberation of the prisoners, the assassination of President Davis 
and his Cabinet, and the sacking of Richmond — warned our autho- 
rities against allowing large numbers of prisoners to remain in 
Richmond, even if the difliculty of feeding them there was removed; 
and the only alternative was to rush them down to Andersonville, 
as enough men to guard them elsewhere could not be sj^ared from 
the ranks of our armies, which were now everywhere fighting over- 
whelming odds. We have a statement from an entirely trustworthy 
source that the reason prisoners were not detailed to cut timber 
with which to enlarge the stockade and build shelters, is, that this 
privilege loas granted to a large number of them when the prison 
was first established, they giving their parole of honor not to at- 
tempt to escape ; and that they violated their pai'oles, threiv away their 
axes, and spread dismay throughout that ivhole region, by creating the 
impression that all of the lyrisoners had broken loose. This experiment 
could not, of course, be repeated, and the rest had to suffer for the 
bad faith of these, who not only prevented the detail of any num- 
bers of other prisoners for this work, but made way with axes which 
could not be replaced. In reference to feeding the jirisoners on 
corn bread, there has been the loudest complaints and the bitterest 
denunciations. They had not been accustomed to such hard fare 
as " hog and hominy," and the poor fellows did suffer fearfully 
from it. But the Confederate soldiers had the same rations. Our sol- 
diers had the advantage of buying supplies and of receiving occa- 
sional boxes from home, which the prisoners at Andersonville 
could have enjoyed to an even greater extent had the United States 
authorities been willing to accept the humane proposition of our 
Commissioner of Exchange — to allow each side to send supplies 
tp their prisoners.. But why did not the Confederacy furnish bet- 



180 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

ter rations to both our own soldiers and our prisoners? and why 
were the prisoners at Anderson ville not suppHed with ivheat bread 
instead of corn bread? Answers to these questions may be abun- 
dantly found by referring to the orders of Major-General John 
Pope, directing his men "to live on the country"; the orders of 
General Sherman, in fulfilling his avowed purpose to "make 
Georgia howl" as he "smashed things generally" in that "great 
march," Avhich left smoking, blackened ruins and desolated fields to 
mark his progress; the orders of General Grant to his Lieutenant, 
to desolate the rich wheat-growing Valley of Virginia; or the re- 
ports of General Sheridan, boasting of the number of barns he had 
burned, the mills he had destroyed, and the large amount of wheat 
he had given to the flames, until there was really more truth than 
poetry in his boast that he had made the Shenandoah Valley " such a 
waste that even a crow flying over would be compelled to carry his 
own rations." AVe have these and other similar orders of Federal 
Generals in our archives (we propose to give hereafter a few choice 
extracts from them), and we respectfully submit that, for the South 
to be abused for not furnishing Federal prisoners with better ra- 
tions, when our own soldiers and people had been brought pain- 
fully near the starvation point by the mode of warfare which the 
Federal Government adopted, is even more unreasonable than the 
course of the old Egyptian task-masters, who required their captives 
to "make brick without straw." And to the complaints that the 
sick did not have proper medical attention, we reply that the hos- 
pital at Andersonville was placed on 'preckehj the same footing as the 
hosintalsfor the treatment of our own soldiers. We have the law of the 
Confederate Congress enjoining this, and the orders of the Surgeon- 
General enforcing it. Besides, we have in our archives a large 
budget of original orders, telegrams, letters, &c., which passed be- 
tween the ofliccrs on duty at Andersonville and their superiors. 
We have carefully looked tlirough this large mass of pai:)ers, and 
we have been unable to discover a single sentence indicating that the 
prisoners were to be treated otherwise than kindly, or that the hos- 
pital was to receive a smaller supply of medicines or of stores than 
the hospitals for Confederate soldiers. On the contrary, the whole 
of these papers go to show that the prison hospital at Andersonville 
was on the same footing precisely with every hospital for sick or 
wounded Confederates, and that the scarcity of medicines and hos- 
pital stores, of which there was such constant complaint, proceeded 
from causes which our authorities could not control. 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 181 

But we can make the case still stronger. Whose fault was it 
that the Confederacy was utterly unable to supply medicines for 
the hospitals of either friend or foe ? Most unquestionably the re- 
sponsibility rests with the Federal authorities. They not only 
declared medicines "contraband of war" — even arresting ladies 
coming South for concealing a little quinine under their skirts — but 
they sanctioned the custom of their soldiers to sack every drug 
store in the Confederacy which they could reach, and to destroy 
even the little stock of medicines which the private physician might 
chance to have on hand. 

When General Milroy banished from Winchester, Virginia, the 
family of Mr. Lloyd Logan, because the General (and his wife) 
fancied his elegantly furnished mansion for headquarters, he not 
only forbade their carrying with them a change of raiment, and 
refused to allow Mrs. Logan to take one of her spoons with which 
to administer medicine to a sick child, but he most emphatically 
prohibited their carrying a small medicine chest, or even a feiv phials of 
medicine which the physician had prescribed for immediate use. Pos- 
sibly some ingenious casuist may defend this policy ; but who will 
defend at the bar of history the refusal of the Federal authorities 
to accept Judge Quid's several propositions to allow surgeons from 
either side to visit and minister to their own men in prison — to 
allow each to furnish medicines, &c., to their prisoners in the hands 
of the other — and finally to purchase in the North, for gold, cotton, 
or tobacco, medicines for the exclusive use of Federal prisoners in the 
South ? Well might General Lee have said to President Davis, 
in response to expressions of bitter disappointment when he re- 
ported the failure of his efforts to bring about an exchange of pris- 
oners : " We have done everything in our power to mitigate the suffering of 
prisoners, and there is no just cause for a sense of further responsibility on 
our party Dr. R. Randolph Stevenson, who was for most of the 
time surgeon in charge at Andersonville, has in MS. a large volume 
on this whole subject, and treats fully the diseases at Andersonville, 
their causes, and their mortality. He has kindly tendered us the 
free use of his MS. in the preparation of this ]3aper, but we do not 
feel that it would be right to anticipate the publication of his book 
(which it is hoped Mali not be long delayed) by full quotations 
from it. We give, however, several specimens of the character of 
the papers to which reference is made above : 



182 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

[Copy.] 

Surgeon-Generax's Office, 
KiCHMOND, Va., September 12, 1864. 

Sir — You are instructed to assign the medical officers now on 
duty with the sick prisoners at Andersonville, Georgia, to the points 
that have been selected for the accommodation of the prisoners. 
All the sick whose lives will not be endangered by transportation 
will be removed. The medical officers selected will be required to 
accompany the sick. You will visit each station and see that such 
arrangements are made for the sick as their wants may require, and 
use all the means for their comfort that the Government can fur- 
nish. 

Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

S. P. Moore, Surgeon- General C. S. A. 
To I. H. AVhite, Surgeon C. S. M. Prison Hospital, Andersonville^ Ga. 

[Copy.] 

Office of Surgeon in charge C. S. M. Hospital. 
Andersonville, Ga., November 4, 1864. 

Colonel — Under orders from Brigadier-General John H. Winder^ 
I respectfully request that W. H. H. Phelps, of your post, be de. 
tailed and ordered to report to me for assignment to duty as pur 
chasing agent of vegetables and anti-scorbutics for the sick and 
wounded prisoners now under my charge at this place. 
Yours truly, 

R. K. Stevenson, Surgeon in Charge. 
To Colonel Leon Von Zini^en, Commanding Post Columbus, Ga. 



Approved : 
Approved ; 



Endorsements. 

S. M. Bemiss, Acting Medical Director. 

Leon Von Zinken, Colonel Commanding Post. 
[Copy.] 



Office Chief Surgeon C. S. M. Pri.sons, Georgia and Alabama. 
Camp Lawton, Ga., November 9, 1864. 

gij. — * * * -^Yg have been quite busy for the last two days in 
selecting the sick to be exchanged. After getting them all ready 
at the depot, we were notified by telegraph not to send them, and 
had to take them back to the stockade. Many of these poor fellows, 
already broken down in health, will succumb through despair. 

I am, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

I. H. White, Chief Surgeon. 
To Siirgeon R. R. Stevenson, in charge Post, Andersonville, Ga. 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 183 

A strong point illustrating the position that the sickness among 
the prisoners was from causes which the Confederate authorities 
could not control, is the fact that the Confederate guard, officers 
and surgeons were attacked by the same maladies, and that the 
deaths among them were about as numerous, in propotion to their 
numbers, as among the prisoners themselves. Dr. Jones states in his 
report, that the deaths among the Confederates at Andersonville 
from tyj)hoid and malarial fevers were more numerous than among the 
prisoners, and Dr. Stevenson makes the following statement: 

"The guards on duty here were similarly affected with gangrene 
and scurvy. Captain Wirz had gangrene in an old wound, which 
he had received in the Battle of Manassas, in 1861, and was absent 
from the post (Andersonville) some four weeks on surgeon's certifi- 
•cate. {In his trial certain Federal untnesses swore to his killing certain 
prisoners in August, 1864, ivhenhe (Wirz) was actually at that time abseiit 
on sick leave in Augusta, Georgia.) General Winder had gangrene of 
the face, and was forbidden by his surgeon (I. H. White) to go in- 
side the stockade. Colonel G. C. Gibbs, commandant of the post, 
had gangrene of the face, and was furloughed under the certificate 
of Surgeons Wible and Gore, of Americus, Georgia. The writer 
of thisxan fully attest to effects of gangrene and scurvy contracted 
whilsV on duty there; their marks will follow him to his grave. 
The Confederate graveyard at Andersonville will fully prove that 
the mortality among the guards was almost as great in proportion 
to the number of men as among the Federals." 

Again : 

"For a period of some three months (July, August and Septem- 
ber, 1864) Captain Wirz and those few faithful medical officers of 
the post were engaged night and day in ministering to the wants 
of the sick and dying, and caring for the dead. So arduous were 
their duties that many of the medical officers were taken sick and 
had to abandon their post. In fact the pestilence assumed such 
fearful proportions that Medical-Director S. H. Stout could hardly 
induce such medical men as could be spared from the pressing 
wants of the service (Georgia was at this time one vast hospital) to 
go to Andersonville. 

" It was this horrible condition of the captives that prompted Col- 
onel Ould, the Confederate Commissioner of Exchange, to make 
his repeated efforts in the interest of humanity to get the Federal 
Government (as they had refused all further exchanges) to send 
medicines, supplies of clothing, &c. (offering to pa}^ for them in 
gold or cotton), for the exclusive use of the Federal prisoners, to 
be dispensed, if desired, by Federal surgeons sent for that purpose." 



184 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

Let us follow the preceding statements by the following 

TESTIMONY OF THE PRISONERS THEMSELVES, 

In reference to the recent discussion in Congress, an editor in 
Mr. Blaine's own State (Maine) says : 

" In all the talk that is being made about Andersonville prison 
by agitators and politicians who hope to profit by stirring up dead' 
animosities, it is noticeable that no evidence is produced from men 
who were prisoners at that place. In order to get the views and 
experiences of an actutual prisoner, we called a few days ago upon. 
Mr. John F. Frost, whose business place is a stone's throw from our 
office. Mr. Frost says : 

"'I was orderly of Captain Fogler's company, Nineteenth Maine; 
was made prisoner at Petersburg in June, 1864, and was at Ander- 
sonville eleven months, or until the war ended. There was saffer- 
ing among the men who were sick, from the lack of medicines and 
delicacies, but all had their rations as fully and regularly as did 
the Confederate guard. There were times of scarcity, when supply 
trains were cut off by the Federal forces; and at such times I have 
known the guard to offer to buy the prisoners' rations, being very 
short themselves. On these occasions the guards would take a 
portion of their scanty supplies from the people of the country to 
feed the prisoners. The Kebels were anxious to effect an exchange 
and get the prisoners off" their hands, but it was rej^orted and be- 
lieved among the prisoners that the Federal authorities refused. 
At one time I was with a detail of three thousand prisoners who 
were marched two hundred miles to the coast to be exchanged, but 
it was declined by the Federal authorities, as was reported, and we 
marched back with no enviable feelings. I believe that the larger 
share of the responsibility for the suffering in that prison belonged 
to our own Government. Wirz was harsh and cruel to the pri- 
soners, and deserved hanging. But I believe the Confederate au- 
thorities did as well as they could for the prisoners in the matter 
of clothing, provisions and medicines.' 

"This, let it be remembered, is not the talk of a designing poli- 
tician who stayed safely at home, but the testimony of a soldier of 
good record, from an actual experience of eleven months in Ander- 
sonville prison." 

The following resolutions were adopted by the prisoners: 

[Copy.] 

"Resolutions that were adopted by the Federal prisoners who 
had been confined at Andersonville, and dated Savannah, Septem- 
ber 23, 1864" (see United States Sanitary Commission Memoirs,, 
by Professor A.' Flint, New York ) : 

* * * ^^Rcsolvcd, That while allowing the Confederate Gov- 
vernment all due praise for the attention paid to the prisoners, 
numbers of our men are consigned to early graves," etc. 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 185 

"Resolved, That fen thousand of our brave comrades have descended 
into untimely graves, caused by difference in climate, food, etc. 
And whereas these difficulties still remain, we would declare our 
firm belief that unless we are speedily exchanged we have no other 
alternative but to share the same lamentable fate of our comrades. 
* * Must this thing still go on? Is there no hope? * * * * 

"Resolved, * * * "We have suflFered patiently, and are still 
willing to suffer, if by so doing we can benefit the country; but we 
most respectfully beg leave to say that we are not willing to suffer 
to further the ends of any party or clique to the detriment of our 
families and our country. 

(Signed) " P. Bradley, 

"Chairman of Committee in behalf of Prisoners^ 

We give the following full extract from the testimony of Prescott 
Tracy, of the Eighty-second Regiment New York Volunteers, be- 
fore the United States Sanitary Commission, and published in their 
report: 

"As far as we saw General Winder and Captain Wirz, the former was 
kind arid considerate in his manners, the latter harsh, though not without 
kindly feelings. 

"It is a melancholy and mortifying fact that some of our trials came 
from our o^vn men. At Belle Isle and Andersonville there were among 
us a gang of desperate men, ready to prey on their fellotvs. Not only 
thefts and robberies, but even murders were committed. Affairs became 
so serious at Camp Sumter that an appeal ivas made to General W inder, 
who authorized an arrest arid trial by a criminal court. Eighty-six were 
arrested, and six were hung, besides others who ivere severely punished. 
These proceedings effected a marked change for the better. 

" Some few weeks before being released I was ordered to act as 
clerk in the hospital. This consists simply of a few scattered trees 
and fly tents, and is in charge of Dr. White, an excellent and con- 
siderate man, with very limited means, but doing all in his poiverfor his 
patients. He has twenty-five assistants, besides those detailed to examine 
for admittance to the hospital. This examination was made in a 
small stockade attached to the main one, to the inside door of 
which the sick came or were brought by their comrades, the num- 
ber to be removed being limited. Lately, in consideration of the 
rapidly increasing sickness, it was extended to one hundred and 
fifty daily. That this was too small an allowance is shown by the 
fact that tbe deaths within our stockade were from thirty to forty 
a day. I have seen one hundred and fifty bodies waiting passage 
to the 'dead house,' to be buried with those who died in hospital. 
The average of deaths through the earlier months was thirty a day. 
At tbe time I left, the average was over one hundred and thirty, 
I and one day the record showed one hundred and forty-six. 
I "The proportion of deatbs from starvation, not including those 
consequent on the diseases originating in the character and 



1 



186 Southern Historical Society Papers. 



limited quantity of food — such as diarrhoea, d_yseiitery and scurv}'' — 
I cannot state; but, to the best of my knowledge, information and* 
belief, there were scores every month. We could at any time point 
out many for whom such a fate was inevitable, as they lay or feebly 
walked, mere skeletons, whose emaciation exceeded the examples 
given in LesUe^s Illustrated for June 18, 1864. For example: in 
some cases the inner edges of the two bones of the arms, between 
the elbow and the wrist, with tlie intermediate blood vessels, were 
plainly visible when held toward the light. The ration, in quan- 
tity, was perhaps barely sufficient to sustain life, and the cases of 
starvation were generally those whose stomachs could not retain 
what had become entirel}^ indigestible. 

" For a man to find, on waking, that his comrade by his side was 
dead, was an occurrence too common to be noted. I have seen 
death in almost all the forms of the hospital and battle-field, but 
the daily scenes in Camp Sumter exceeded in the extremity of 
misery all my previous experience. 

"r/ic work of burial is performed by our oivn men, under guards and 
orders, twenty-five bodies being placed in a single pit, without 
head-boards, and the sad duty performed with indecent haste. 
Sometimes our men Avere rewarded for this work with a few sticks 
of firewood, and I have known them to quarrel over a dead body 
for the job. 

^'Dr. WJilte is able to give the patients a diet hut little better than the 
prison rations — a little flour porridge, arrow-root, uihiskey, and wild or 
hog tomatoes. In the way of medicine, I saw nothing hxd camphor, 
ivhiskey, and a decoction of some kind of bark — white oak, I think. He 
often expressed Jus regret that he had not more medicines.''^ 

We beg leave to call especial attention to the passages in the 
above extract which we have italicised, and which are very signifi- 
cant in testimony which was gotten up to prove " Rebel barbarity." 

Another Andersonville prisoner testifies as follows before the 
United States Congressional Committee : 

"We never had any difficulty in getting vegetables; we used to 
buy almost anything that we wanted of the sergeant who called the 
roll mornings and nights. His name was Smith, I think; he was 
Captain Wirz's chief sergeant. We were divided into messes, eight 
in each mess; my mess used to buy from two to four bushels of 
sweet potatoes a week, at the rate of fifteen dollars Confederate 
money per bushel. [They got twenty dollars of Confederate money 
for one dollar of greenbacks in those days.] Turnips were bought 
at twenty dollars a bushel. We had to buy our own soap for 
washing our own persons and clothing; we bought meat and eggs 
and buiscuit. There seemed to be an abundance of those things; 
they were in the market constantl3% That sergeant used to come 
down with a wagon-load of potatoes at a time, bringing twenty or 
twenty-five bushels at a load sometimes." 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 187 

We will next introduce the following 

STATEMENT OF GENERAL J. D. IMBODEN. 

It touches on points which we have already discussed, and anti- 
cipates some others which we shall afterwards give more in detail. 
But it is a clear and very interesting narrative of an important eye- 
witness; and w^e will not mutilate the paper, but will give it entire 
in its original form : 

Richmond, Va., January 12th, 1876. 
General D. H. Mauby, 

Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Southern Historical Society: 

General — At your request I cheerfully reduce to writing the facts 
stated by me in our conversation this morning, for preservation in the 
archives of your society, and as bearing upon a historical question — 
the treatment of prisoners during our late civil war, which it seems 
certain politicians of the vindictive type in the North, led by a 
Presidential aspirant, have deemed it essential to their party suc- 
cess to thrust upon the country again in the beginning of this our 
centennial year. 

It is to be hoped that after a lapse of ten years since we of the 
South grounded our arms, passion has so far jdelded to patriotism, 
reason, and sentiments of a common humanity in the minds and 
hearts of the great mass of intelligent people at the North, that all 
the facts relating to the great struggle between the States of the 
North and South may be calmly presented, if not for final decision 
by this generation, at least to aid impartial. mankind in the future 
to judge correctly between the conquering and the vanquished parties 
to the contest; and to fix the responsibility where it attaches, to 
the one side or the other, or to both, for sufferings inflicted that 
were not necessarily incident to a state of war between contending 
Christian powers. 

I now proceed to give you a simple historical narrative of facts 
within my personal knowledge, that I believe have never been pub- 
lished, although at the request of Judge Robert Ould, of this city, 
who was the Confederate Commissioner for the Exchange of Pri- 
soners, I wrote them out in 1866, and furnished the MS. to a re- 
porter of the New York Herald. But the statement never appeared 
in that journal, for the reason assigned by the reporter, that the 
conductors of the Herald deemed the time inopportune for such a 
publication. My MS. was retained by them, and I have never 
heard of it since. 

It is perhaps proper to state how I came to be connected with 
the prison service of the Confederate States. An almost fatal attack 
of typhoid fever, in the summer and fall of 1864, so impaired my 
physical condition that I was incapable of performing efficiently 
the arduous duties of my position as a cavalry officer on active 
service in the mountains of Virginia, and therefore I applied to the 



tl 



188 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

Confederate War Office for assignment to some light duty farther 
south till the milder weather of the ensuing spring would enable me 
to take my place at the head of the brave and hardy mountaineers 
of the Valley and western counties of Virginia I had the honor to 
command. General R. E, Lee kindly urged my application in 
person, and procured an order directing me to report to Brigadier- 
General J. H. Winder, then Commissary of Prisoners, whose head- 
quarters were at Columbia, South Carolina. I left my camp in the I 
Shenandoah Valley late in December, 1864, and reached Columbia, ' 
I think, on the 6th of January, 1865. General Winder immediately 
ordered me to the command of all the prisons west of the Savannah 
river, with leave to establish my temporary headquarters at Aiken, 
South Carolina, on account of the salubrity of its climate. I can- 
not fix dates after this with absolute precision, because all my offi- 
cial papers fell into the hands of the United States military authori- 
ties after the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston to General 
Sherman; but for all essential purposes my memory enables me 
to detail events in consecutive order, and approximately to assign 
each to its proper date. 

A few days after receiving my orders from General Winder, I 
reached Aiken, and visited Augusta, Georgia, and established an office 
there in charge of a staff officer, Lieutenant George W. McPhail, 
for prompt and convenient communication with the prisons of the 
department. 

About my first official act was to dispatch Lieutenant-Colonel 
Bondurant on a tour of inspection of the prisons in my department, 
with instructions to report fully on their condition and management. 
Whilst Colonel Bondurant was on this service, I was forced to quit 
Aiken by the approach of Kilpatrick's cavalry, moving on the flank 
of Sherman's army. A detachment of this cavalry reached Aiken 
within four hours after I left it. I then made Augusta my per- 
manent headquarters, residing, however, a few miles out on the 
Georgia railroad at 13erzelia. Colonel Bondurant promptly dis- 
charged the duty assigned to him, and on the state of facts presented 
in his reports, I resolved to keep up but two prisons, the one at 
Andersonville and the other at Eufaula. I did this for economical 
reasons, and because it was easier to supply two posts tlian four or 
five so widely scattered ; and besides the whole number of prisoners 
in the department then did not exceed 8,0U0 or 9,000 — the great 
majority, about 7,500, being at Andersonville. • 

Before I received Colonel Bondurant's re})ort. General Winder 
died, when, having no superior in command, I reported directly to 
the Secretarj^of War at Richmond. Communication with the War 
Office was at that period very slow and difficult. Great military 
operations were in progress. General Sherman was moving through 
the Carolinas. The Federal cavalry under Kilpatrick with Sherman, 
and Stoneman co-operoting from Tennessee, almost suspended mail 
facilities between Georgia and Virginia, and the telegraph was 
almost impracticable, because the line was taxed almost to its 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 189 

capacity in connection with active military operations. After the 
death of General Winder, I made repeated efforts to establish com- 
munication with the Secretary of War, and with Commissioner 
Ould, and obtain some instructions in regard to the prisons and 
prisoners under my charge. All these eff"orts failed, at least I re- 
ceived no reply by wire, mail or messenger to any of my inquiries. 
A newspaper fell into my hands in which, as an item of news, I 
saw it stated that Brigadier-General Gideon J. Pillow had been ap- 
pointed General Winder's successor. General Pillow was then at 
Macon, but had received no official notification of his appointment, 
and I having none, could not, and did not, recognize him as entitled 
to command me, but cheerfully, as will appear further on, consulted 
him in regard to all important matters of administration. 

Colonel Bondurant's report on the Anderson ville prison, taken in 
connection with written aiDplications from Captain Wirz which 
I had received, suggesting measures for the amelioration of the 
condition of the prisoners, strongly endorsed and approved by 
Colonel Gibbs, an old United States army officer, a cultivated, urbane 
and humane gentleman, commanding the post, made it apparent 
to my mind that I ought to make a personal examination into its 
condition. This was no easy undertaking, as I had to travel over 
almost impassible country roads through the desolated belt of 
country traversed by Sherman's army, in its march through 
Georgia, for a distance of over -seventy miles, before I could reach 
a railroad to take me to Andersonville. I made the journey, how- 
ever, in February. " 

On my arrival at Andersonville, unannounced and unexpected, 
I made an immediate personal inspection of everything — not only 
as then existing, but with the aid of the post and prison record, I 
went back several months, to the period when the mortality was so 
great, to ascertain, if possible, its cause. 

The guard then on duty consisted of a brigade of Georgia State 
troops, under command of Brigadier-General Gartrell. The post 
was commanded by Colonel Gibbs, who, as before stated, was an 
old army officer; and the prison proper w^as under the immediate 
command of Captain Wirz, who w^as tried and executed at Wash- 
ington, in 1865, most unjustly, as the verdict of impartial history 
will establish ; just as will be the case in regard to Mrs. Surratt's 
horrible murder. 

The officers first named, and all others on duty there, aff'orded 
me every facility to prosecute my investigations to the fullest extent, 
and were prompt to point out to me measures of relief that were 
practicable. I went within the stockade and conversed with many 
of the prisoners. I found the prison and its inmates in a bad con- 
dition : not as bad as our enemies have represented, yet unfortu- 
nately bad. The location of the stockade was good, and had been 
judiciously chosen for healthfulness. It occupied two gently sloping 
hillsides, with a clear flowing brook dividing them; and being in 
the sandy portion of the pine woods of Georgia, it was free from 



190 Southern Histoi'ical Society Papers. 

local malaria, and had the benefit of a genial and healthy climate. 
It was of sufhcient capacity for from 8,000 to 9,000 prisoners, without 
uncomfortable crowding. The great mortalit}^ of tlie previous year, 
I have no doubt, resulted in part from an excess of prisoners over 
the fair capacity of the stockade, and from the lack of sufficient 
shelter from the sun and rain. Before my arrival at Andersonvlle, 
Captain Wirz had, by a communication forwarded through Colonel 
Gibbs, and approved by him, called my attention to the great de- 
ficiency of shelter in the stockade, and asked authority to supply 
it. He had made a similar application, I was informed, to General 
Winder some time before, but it had not been acted on before the 
General's death. In consequence of this want of buildings and 
shedding within the stockade, the prisoners had excavated a great 
many subterranean vaults and chambers in the hillsides, which 
many of them occupied, to the injury of their health, as these 
places were not sufficiently ventilated. 

The prisoners were very badly off' for clothing, shoes and liats, 
and complained of this destitution, and of the quantity and kind 
of rations — corn bread and bacon chiefly — issued to them. I found, 
what I anticipated, that we had no clothing to give them. Many 
of the men on duty as guards were in rags, and either barefooted, 
or had their feet protected with worn out shoes held together 
with strings and thongs, and in lieu of overcoats many had to pro- 
tect themselves against inclement weather with a tattered blanket 
drawn over the shoulders. Our own men being in this destitute 
condition, it can be well understood that we could not supply a 
large demand for clothing prisoners. 

They also suffered greatly, and there had been great mortality, 
for want of suitable medicines to treat the diseases incident to their 
condition with any considerable success. From this cause, and 
this alone, I have no doubt thousands died at Andersonville in 
18G4, who would be living to-day if the United States Government 
had not declared medicines contraband of war, and by their close 
blockade of our coasts deprived us of an adequate sup})W of those 
remedial agents that therapeutical science and modern chemistry 
have produced for the amelioration of suffering humanity. The 
object of this barbarous decree against the Confederacy, it is now 
well understood, was to expose our soldiers, as well as our wives, 
children and families, without protection or relief, to the diseases 
common in our climate, and to make us an easy prey to death, ap- 
proach us in what form he might ; not foreseeing, perhaps, that 
W'hen the grim monster stalked through our prisons he would find 
not alone Confederates for his victims, but the stalwart soldiers of the 
Government which had invoked his aid against us. At the time 
of my inspection, there was a good deal of sickness amongst the 
prisoners, but not a large percentage of mortality. Our medical 
officers, even with their scanty pharmacopte, gave equal attention , 
to sick friends and enemies, to guard and to prisoners alike. 

I investigated particularly the food question, and found that no 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War, 191 

discrimination was made in the issue of rations. to guards and pri- 
soners. In quantity, quality and kind the daily supply was ex- 
actly the sanw, man for man. It is true it was very scanty, con- 
sisting of a third or half a pound of meat a day, and usually a pint 
or pint and a half of corn meal, with salt. Occasionally there were 
small supplies of wheat flour, and sometimes a very few potatoes, 
but they were rarely to be had. Other vegetables we had none. 
General Lee's army in Virginia lived but little if any better. The 
food was sound and wholesome, but meagre in quantity, and not 
such in kind and variety as Federal soldiers had been accustomed 
to draw from their abundant commissariat. Our soldiers did very 
well on "hog and hominy," and rarely complained. The Federals 
thought it horrible to have nothing else, and but a scanty supply 
of this simple food. Great scoundrelism was detected amongst the 
prisoners in cheating each other. They were organized in compa- 
nies of a hundred each in the stockade, and certain men of their 
own selection were permitted to come outside the stockade and 
draw the rations for their fellows, and cook them. Many of these 
rascals would steal and secrete a part of the food, and as opportu- 
nity offered sell it at an exorbitant rate to their famished comrades. 
Shortly before I went to Andersonville six of these villains were 
detected, and by permission of the prison authorities the prisoners 
themselves organized a court of their own, tried them for the offence, 
found them guilty, and hung them inside the stockade. This event 
led to a change in the mode of issuing rations, which precluded 
the possibility of such a diabolical traffic in stolen food. 

Bad as was the physical condition of the prisoners, their mental 
depression was worse, and perhaps more fatal. Thousands of them 
collected around me in the prison, and begged me to tell them 
whether there was any hope of release by an exchange of prisoners. 
Some time before that President Davis had permitted three of the 
Andersonville prisoners to go to Washington to try and change the 
determination of their Government and procure a resumption of 
exchanges. The prisoners knew of the failure of this mission when 
I was at Andersonville, and the effect was to plunge the great ma- 
jority of them into the deepest melancholy, home-sickness and 
despondency. They believed their confinement would continue 
till the end of the war, and many of them looked upon that as a 
period so indefinite and remote that they believed that they would 
die of their sufferings before the day of release came. I explained 
to them the efforts we had made and were still making to effect an 
exchange. A Federal captain at Andersonville, learning that I had 
a brother of the same rank (Captain F. M. Imboden, of the Eigh- 
teenth Virginia Cavalry) incarcerated at Johnson's Island, in Lake 
Erie, where he was in a fair way to die from harsh treatment and 
a lack of food, represented to me that he had powerful connections 
at Washington, and thought that if I would parole him he could 
effect his exchange for my brother, and perhaps influence a deci- 
sion on the general question of exchanges. He agreed to return in 



192 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

thirty daj^s if he failed. I accepted his terms, and with some diffi- 
culty got him through the lines. He foiled, and returned within 
our lines, but just in time to be set at liberty again, as Avill appear 
further on. I regret that I have forgotten his name, and have no 
record of it. 

I have already alluded to Captain Wirz's recommendation to put 
up more shelter. I ordered it, and thereafter daily a hundred or 
more prisoners were paroled and set to work in the neighboring 
forest. In the course of a fortnight comfortable log houses, with 
floors and good chimneys — for which the prisoners made and burnt 
the brick — were erected for twelve or fifteen hundred men, and 
were occupied by those in feeble health, who were "vyithdrawn from 
the large stockade and separated from the mass of prisoners. This 
same man (Captain Wirz), who was tried and hung as a murderer, 
warmly urged the establishment of a tannery and shoemaker's shop, 
informing me that there were many men amongst the prisoners 
skilled in these trades, and that some of them knew a process of 
very rapidly converting hides into tolerably good leather. There 
were thousands of hides at Andersonville, from the young cattle 
butchered during the previous summer and fall, whilst the country 
yet contained such animals. I ordered this, too; and a few weeks 
later many of the barefooted prisoners were supplied with rough, but 
comfortable shoes; one of them made and sent to me a jjair that 
surprised me, both by the quality of the leather and the style of the 
shoes. Another suggestion came from the medical staff of the post 
that I ordered to be at once put into practice: it was to brew corn 
beer for those suffering from scorl)utic taint. The corn meal — or 
even wdiole corn — being scalded in hot water and a mash made of 
it, a little yeast was added to promote fermentation, and in a few 
days a sharp acid beverage was produced, by no means unpalatable, 
and very wholesome. Captain Wirz entered warmly into this en- 
terprise. I mention these facts to show^ that he was not the mon- 
ster he was afterwards represented to be, when his blood was called 
for by infuriate fanaticism. I would have proved these facts if I 
had been permitted to testify on his trial after I was summoned 
before the court by the United States, and have substantiated them 
by the records of the prison and of my own headquarters, if these 
records were not destroyed, supj^ressed or mutilated at the time. 
But after being kept an hour in the court-room, during an earnest 
and whispered consultation between the President of the court and 
the Judge-Advocate, and their examination of a great mass of 
papers, the contents of which I could not see, I was politely dis- 
missed without examination, and told I would be called at another 
time; but I never was, and thus Wirz was deprived of the benefit 
of my evidence. My personal acquaintance with Ca])tain Wirz 
was very slight, but the facts I have alluded to satisfied me that he 
■was a humane man, and was selected as a victim to the bloody 
moloch of 1865, because he was a foreigner and comparatively 
friendless. I put these facts on record now to vindicate, as far as 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 193 

they go,, his memory from the monstrous crimes falsely charged 
against him. No such charges ever reached me, whilst I was in a 
position to have made it a duty to investigate them, as those upon 
which he was tried and executed. He may have committed grave 
offences, but if so, I never knew it, and do not believe it. 

After having given my sanction and orders to carry out every 
suggestion of others, or that occurred to my own mind for the 
amelioration of the condition of the prisoners as far as we possessed 
the means, and having issued stringent orders to preserve discipline 
amongst the guarding troops, and subordination, quiet and good 
order amongst the prisoners, I went to Macon to confer with Gene- 
ral Howell Cobb and General Gideon J. Pillow as to the proper 
course for me to pursue in the event of our situation in Georgia 
becoming more precarious, or the chance of communication with 
the Government at Richmond being entirely cut off, which ap- 
peared to be an almost certain event in the very near future. After 
a full discussion of the situation, there was perfect accord in our 
views. General Pillow was expecting to receive official notice of 
his appointment as Commissary of Prisons, in which event he 
would become my commanding officer. General Cobb commanded 
the State troops of Georgia, and I was dependent on him for a 
sufficient force to discharge my duties and hold the prisoners in 
custody. There was eminent propriety, therefore, in our conferring 
with each other, and acting harmoniously in whatever course might 
be adopted. General Pillow took a leading part in the discussion, 
and in shaping the conclusions to' which we came. In the absence 
of official information or instructions from Richmond, we acted 
upon what the newspapers announced as a recently established ar- 
rangement with General Grant, which was, in effect, that either 
side might deliver to the other on parole, but without exchange, 
any prisoners they chose, taking simply a receipt for them. We 
had no official information of any such agreement from our Gov- 
ernment, but it was regarded b}^ us as very probably true, and we 
decided to act upon it. The difficulty of supplying the prisoners 
with even a scanty ration of corn meal and bacon was increasing 
daily. The cotton States had never been a grazing country, and 
therefore we had few or no animals left there for food, except hogs. • 
These States were not a large wheat producing region, and for that 
reason we had to depend mainly on corn for bread. Salt was 
scarce and hard to obtain. Vegetables we had none for army pur- 
poses. We were destitute of clothing, and of the materials and 
machinery to manufacture it in sufficient quantities for our own 
soldiers and people. And the Federal Government, remaining deaf 
to all ai:)peals for exchange of prisoners, it was manifest that the 
incarceration of their captured soldiers could no longer be of any 
possible advantage to us, since to relieve their sufferings that gov- 
ernment would take no step, if it involved a similar release of our 
men in their hands. Indeed, it was manifest that they looked 
upon it as an advantage to them and an injury to us to leave their 

6 



194 Southe)'n Historical Society Papers. 

prisoners in our hands to eat out our little remaining substance. 
In view of all these facts and considerations, Generals Cobb and 
Pillow and I were of one mind that the best thing that could be 
done was, without further efforts to get instructions from Rich- 
mond, to make arrangements to send off all the prisoners we had 
at Eufaula and Andersonville to the nearest accessible Federal post, 
and having paroled them not to bear arms till regularly exchanged, 
to deliver them unconditionally, simply taking a receij)t on descrip- 
tive rolls of the men thus turned over. 

In pursuance of this determination, and as soon as the necessary 
arrangements could be made, a detachment of about 1,500 men, 
made up from the two prisons, was sent to Jackson, Mississippi, by 
rail and delivered to their friends. General "Dick" Taylor at that 
time commanded the department through which these prisoners 
were sent to Jackson, and objected to any more being sent that 
way, on the ground that they would pick up information on the 
route detrimental to our military interests. The only remaining 
available outlet was at Saint Augustine, Florida, Sherman having 
destroyed railway communication with Savannah. Finding that 
the prisoners could be sent from Andersonville by rail to the 
Chattahoochie, thence down that river to Florida, near Quincy, 
and from Quincy by rail to Jacksonville, within a day's march of 
Saint Augustine, it was resolved to open communication with the 
Federal commander at the latter place. With that view, some- 
where about the middle of March, Captain Rutherford, an intelli- 
gent and energetic officer, was sent to Saint Augustine. A few 
days after his departure for Florida, he telegraphecl from Jackson- 
ville, "Send on the prisoners." He had, as he subsequently re- 
ported, arranged with the Federal authorities to receive them. At 
once all were ordered to be sent forward who were able to bear the ■ 
journey. Three days' cooked rations were prepared, and so benefi- 
cial to health was the revival of the spirits of these men by the 
prospect of once more being at liberty, that I believe all but twelve 
or fifteen reported themselves able to go, and did go. The number 
sent was over 6,000. Only enough officers and men of the guard 
went along to keep the prisoners together, preserve order, and facil- 
itate their transportation. To my amazement the officer command- 
ing the escort telegraphed back from Jacksonville that the Federal 
commandant at Saint Augustine refused to receive and receipt 
for the prisoners till he could hear from General Grant, who was 
then in front of Petersburg, Virginia, and with whom he could only 
communicate by sea along the coast, and asking my instructions 
imder the circumstances. Acting without the known sanction of 
the Government at Richmond, I was afraid to let go the prisoners 
without some official acknowledgment of their delivery to the 
United States, and knowing that two or three weeks must elapse 
before General Grant's will in the premises could be made known, 
and it being impossible to subsist our men and the prisoners at 
Jacksonville, I could pursue but one course. I ordered their 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 195 

return to Andersonville, directing that the reason for this unex- 
pected result should be fully explained to them. Provisions were 
hastily collected and sent to meet them, and in a few days all were 
back in their old quarters. I was not there on their return, but it 
was reported to me that their indignation against their Govern- 
ment was intense, many declaring their readiness to renounce alle- 
giance to it and take up arms with us. The old routine was resumed 
at Andersonville, but it was not destined to continue long. 

Before any further communication reached me from Saint Augus- 
tine, General Wilson, with a large body of cavalry, approached 
Georgia from the West. It was evident that his first objective point 
was Andersonville, Again conferring with Generals Cobb and 
Pillow, and finding we were powerless to prevent Wilson's reaching 
Andersonville, where he would release the prisoners and capture 
all our officers and troops there, it was decided without hesitation 
again to send the prisoners to Jacksonville and turn them loose, to 
make the best of their way to their friends at Saint Augustine. This 
was accomplished in a few days, the post at Andersonville was 
broken up, the Georgia State troops were sent to General Cobb at 
Macon, and in a short time the surrender of General Johnston to 
Sherman, embracing all that section of country, the Confederate 
prisons ceased to exist, and on the od of May, 1865, I was myself a 
prisoner of war on parole at Augusta, Georgia. A few days later I 
was sent with other paroled Confederates to Hilton Head, South 
Carolina, where I met about 2,000 of the Andersonville prisoners, 
who had been sent up from Saint Augustine, to be thence shipped 
North. Their condition was much improved. Many of them were 
glad to see me, and four days later I embarked witli several hun- 
dred of them on the steam transport "Thetis" for Fortress Monroe, 
and have reason to believe that every man of them felt himself my 
friend rather than an enemy. 

It has been charged that Mr. Davis, as President of the Confede- 
rate States, was responsible for the sufferings of prisoners held in 
the South. During my four months' connection with this dis- 
agreeable branch of Confederate military service, no communication 
direct or indirect, was ever received by me from Mr. Davis, and, so 
far as I remember, the records of the prison contained nothing to 
implicate him in any way with its management or administration. 
I have briefly alluded to the causes of complaint on the part of 
prisoners, and even where these were well founded, I am at a loss 
to see how Mr. Davis is to be held responsible before the world for 
their existence, till it is proved that he knew of them and failed to 
remove delinquent officers. 

The real cause of all the protracted sufferings of prisoners North 
and South is directly due to the inhuman refusal of the Federal 
Government to exchange prisoners of war, a policy that we see 
from the facts herein stated was carried so far as to induce a com- 
manding officer, at Saint Augustine, to refuse even to receive, and 
acknowledge that he had received, over 6,000 men of his own side, 



196 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

tendered to liim unconditionally, from that prison in the South 
which, above all others, they charged to have been the scene of Un- 
usual suffering. The inference is irresistible that this officer felt 
that it would be dangerous to his official character to relieve the 
Confederacy of the burthen of supporting these prisoners, although 
he and his countrymen afiected to believe that we were slowl}'' 
starving them to death. The policy at Washington was to let 
Federal prisoners starve, if the process involved the Confederates 
in a similar catastrophe — and "fired the Northern heart." 

I have introduced more of my personal movements and actions 
into this recital than is agreeable or apparently in good taste, but 
it has been unavoidable in making the narrative consecutive and 
intelligible, and I trust wall be pardoned, even if appearing to 
transcend the bounds of becoming modesty. In the absence of all 
my official papers relating to these subjects (which I presume were 
taken to Washington after I surrendered them, and are still there, 
unless it was deemed policy to destroy them when Captain Wirz was 
on trial), I have not been able to go into many minute details that 
might add interest to the statement, but notliing, I think, to the lead- 
ing fact — that the United States refused an unconditional delivery of 
so many of its own men, inmates of that prison (Andersonville), 
which they professed then to regard as a Confederate slaughter-pen 
and place of intentional diabolical cruelties inflicted on the sick 
and helpless. Was this course not a part of a policy of deception 
for "firing the Northern heart"? Impartial history will one day 
investigate and answer this question. And there we may safely 
leave it, with a simj)le record of the facts. 

Very truly, 3'our friend, 

J. D. I.MBODEN. 

The above documents seem to us to show be3'ond all controversy 
that whatever suffering existed at Andersonville (and it is freely 
admitted that the suffering was terrible), resulted from causes 
which were beyond the control of the Confederate Government, and 
were directly due to the cold-blooded, cruel policy of the Federal 
authorities, which not only refused to exchange prisoners, but re- 
jected every overture to mitigate their sufferings. 

The Federal Government has had possession of the Confederate 
archives for now nearly eleven years. The Confederate leaders and 
their friends have been denied all access to those archives, while 
partisans on the other side have ransacked them at will in eager 
search for every sentence which could be garbled out of its connec- 
tion to prove the charges made, with reckless disregard of the truth, 
against the " Kebel crew." It is fair to presume that those records 
contain no stronger proof of " Rebel cruelty to prisoners " than has 
already been brought to light, while some of us are fondly hoping 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 197 

that before the next Centennial the people of the South will have 
the vindication which the records of the Confederacy afford. The 
strongest proof of the charges made against the Confederate Gov- 
ernment which has yet been produced from those records is the 

REPORT OF COLONEL D. T. CHANDLER, 

which was introduced at the Wirz trial, and upon which the Radical 
press has been ringing the charges ever since. It has been recently 
thus put in a malignant reply, in a partisan sheet, to Mr. Davis' 
letter to Mr. Lyons : 

On the 5th day of August, 1864, Colonel Chandler, an officer of 
the Confederate army, made a report to the Rebel War Department 
regarding the condition of Andersonville jjrison. He had made 
one six months before, but no attention had been paid to it. In 
his last report he said : 

"My duty requires me respectfully to recommend a change in the 
officer in the command of the post, Brigadier- General J. H. Win- 
der, and the substitution in his place of some one who unites both 
energy and good judgment with some feeling of humanity and 
consideration for the welfare and comfort (so far as it is consistent 
with their safe-keeping) of the vast number of unfortunates placed 
under his control ; some one ivho at least will not advocate deliberately 
and in cold blood the propriety of leaving them in their present condition 
until their number has been sufficiently reduced by death to make the pre- 
sent arrangement sifficefor their accommodation; who will not con- 
sider it a matter of self-laudation and boasting that he has never 
been inside of the stockade, a place the horrors of tvhich it is difficult 
to describe, and which is a disgrace to civilization, the condition of 
which he might, by the exercise of a little energy and judgment, 
even with the limited means at his command, have considerably 
improved. 

" D. T. Chandler, 
^^Aisistant Adjutant and Inspector- General^ 

This report was forwarded to the Secretary of War with the 
following endorsement: 

"Adjutant and Inspector-General's Office, 

"August IS, 1864. 

" Respectfully submitted to the Secretary of War. The condition 
of the prison at Andersonville is a reproach to us as a nation. The 
Engineer and Ordnance Departments were applied to, and authorized 
their issue, and I so telegraphed General Winder. Colonel Chan- 
dler's recommendations are coincided in. 
" By order of General Cooper. 

"R. H.Chilton, 
''^Assistant Adjutant and Inspector-General." 



198 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

Not content with this, Colonel Chandler testifies that he went to 
the War Office himself, and had an interview with the Assistant 
Secretar}^, J. A. Campbell, who then wrote below General Cooper's 
•endorsement the following : 

"These reports show a condition of things at Anderson ville, which 
calls very loudly for the interposition of the Department, in order 
that a change may be made. 

" J. A. Campbell, 
^^ Assistant Secretary of War.'''' 

Thus was the horrible condition of things at Andersonville 
brought home to the Secretary of "War, one of the confidential ad- 
visers of the President, who was daily in consultation with him. 
If all was being done for the prisoners that could be done, how 
came such reports to be made? But what was the result? A few 
days after this report was sent in. Winder, the beast, the cruel, 
heartless coward — the man of whom the Richmond Examiner said, 
when he was ordered from that city to Andersonville, "Thank God 
that Richmond is at last rid of old Winder; God have mercy upqn 
those to whom he has been sent" — this man was promoted by Mr. 
Davis, and made Commissary-General of all the prisons and pris- 
oners in the Confederacy. We come now to a question which we 
challenge Mr. Davis to answer. Did he know of, or had his atten- 
tion been called to, Colonel Chandler's report when he promoted 
General AVinder? Dare he deny having made this latter appoint- 
ment as a reward to W^inder for his faithful services at Anderson- 
ville? 

A writer in the Sauk Rapids Sentinel adds the statement (which 
is certainly news in this latitude) that upon this report General 
Winder was "indignantly removed by the Secretary of War," and 
that when he carried the order removing him to the President he 
not onl}^ reinstated him, but "immediately added to his power 
and opportunities for barbarity, by promoting him to the office of 
Commissary-General of all of the prisons and prisoners of the 
Southern Confederacy." This is, indeed, a terrible arraignment of 
Mr. Davis, if it were true, but. there is really not one word of truth in 
any statement of that character. Mr. Davis not only never saw Colo- 
nel Chandler'' s report, but absolutely never heard of it until last year. 

We are fortunate in being able to give a clear statement of the 
history of Colonel Chandler's report, and to show that so far from 
being proof of any purposed cruelty to prisoners on the part of 
the Confederate Government, the circumstances aftbrd the strongest 
proof of just the reverse. 

We inclosed the slip from the Sauk Rapids Sentinel to Hon. R. G. 
H. Kean, who was chief clerk of the Confederate War Dei)artment. 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 199 

We may say (for the benefit of readers in other sections ; it is en- 
tirely unnecessary in this latitude), that Mr. Kean is now Rector 
of the University of Virginia, and is an accomplished scholar and 
a high-toned Christian gentleman, whose lightest word may be 
implicitly relied ujDon. Mr. Kean has sent us the following letter, 
•which, though hastily written and not designed for publication, 
gives so clear a history of this report that we shall take the liberty 
-of publishing it in full : 

Letter of Hon. R. i}. H. Kean, Chief Clerk of the Confederate War 

Department. 

Lynchburg, Va., March 22, 1876. 
Kev. J. "William Jones, 

Secretary Southern Historical Society : 

My Dear Sir — Yours of the 20th is received this A. M., and I 
snatch the time from the heart of a busy day to reply immediatelyj 
because I feel that there is no more imperious call on a Confederate 
than to do what he may to hurl back the vile official slanders of 
the Federal Government at Washington in 1865, when Holt, Cono- 
ver & Co., with a pack of since convicted perjurers, were doing all 
in their power to blacken the fame of a people whose presence they 
have since found and acknowledged to be indispensable to any 
semblance of purity in their administration of affairs. 

In September, 1865, I was required by the then commandant at 
Charlottesville to report immediately to him. The summons was 
brought to me in the field, where in my shirt sleeves I was assist- 
ing in the farming operations of m}^ father-in-law. Colonel T. J. Ran- 
dolph, and his eldest son. Major T. J. Randolph. I obeyed, and was 
sent by the next train to report to General Terry, then in command 
in Richmond. He informed me that I was wanted, and had long 
been sought for, to testify before the Commission engaged in trying 
Wirz, and I was sent to Washington by the next train. I attended 
promptly, but it was two or three days before I was examined as a 
witness. When I was, a paper taken from the records of our War 
Office was shown me — the report of Lieutenant-Colonel Chandler 
of his inspection of the post at Andersonville. . I remembered the 
paper well. This writer in the Sauk Rapids Sentinel is in error when 
he says this report was "delivered in person to the Confederate 
Assistant Secretary of War." It had been sent through the usual 
channels, and reaching the hands of Colonel R. H. Chilton, Assist- 
ant Inspector-General, in charge of the inspection branch of the 
Adjutant and Inspector-General's bureau, was brought into the War 
Office by Colonel Chilton and placed in my hands, with the 
endorsement quoted by this writer, or something to that 
effect. Colonel Chilton explained to me that the report dis- 
closed such a state of things at Andersonville, that he had 
"brought it to me, in order that it might receive prompt atten- 



200 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

tion, instead of sending it through the usual routine channel. 
I read it immediately, and was shocked at its contents. I do not 
remember the passage quoted by this writer, but I do remember 
that it showed that the 32,000 men' herded in the stockade at An- 
dersonville were dying of scurvy and other diseases engendered by 
their crowded condition and insufficient supplies of medicines, 
suitable food, and medical attendance, at the rate of ten per cent., 
or about 3,000 a month. Shocked at such a waste of human life, 
produced by the fraudulent refusal to observe the cartel for ex- 
change of prisoners, whom we had neither the force to guard in a 
large enclosure, nor proper food for when sick, nor medicines, save 
such as we could smuggle into our ports or manufacture from the 
plants of Southern growth, I took the report to Judge Campbell, 
Assistant Secretary of War, and told him of the horrors it disclosed. 
He read it, and made on it an endorsement substantially the same 
quoted, and carried it to Mr. Seddon, then Secretary of Vv^ar. My 
office was between that of the Assistant Secretary and the Secre- 
tary, and the latter passed through mine with the paper in his 
hand. I testified to these facts before the Wirz Commission, and 
also to this further. As well as I remember it was early in August 
that these endorsements were made. In October, Colonel Chandler, 
who was, I think, a Mississippian, and Avith whom I had no pre- 
vious acquaintance, presented himself in my office, and stated 
to me that he had been officially informed that General ^^^inder, 
on being called on in August for a response to the parts of his re- 
port which reflected on or blamed him (Winder), had responded 
by making an issue of veracity with him (Chandler); that he (C.) 
had promj)tly demanded a court of inquiry, but that none had 
been ever ordered. He expressed himself as very unwilling to lie 
under such an imputation, and urgently desirous to have the sub- 
ject investigated. His appearance and manner were very good — 
those of a gentleman and a man of lienor ; and, in sympathy with 
his feelings (though I told him that it was extremely improbable 
that officers of suitable rank could be spared from the service to 
conduct such an investigation at that time), I told him I would call 
the attention of the Secretary to the matter. Accordingly I got the re- 
port, and placing around it a slip of paper in the usual official man- 
ner, I endorsed to this effect: "Lieutenant-Colonel Chandler is here 
in person, urging that a court of inquiry be named to investigate the 
issues between him and General Winder touching this report. He 
seems to feel his position painfully" — addressed to the Secretary 
of War. Mr. Seddon told me afterwards that in the then state of 
things it was impossible to spare officers of suitable rank — so 
many were prisoners that the supply in the field was insufficient, 
or to that efiect — and Colonel Chandler was so informed, either by 
me in person or by letter. This endorsement of mine, dated in 
October, 1864, was the thing which connected me with the report, and 
caused me to be summoned to Washington to trace it into the hands 
of the Secretary of War. The effort was assiduously made by Colonel 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 201 

L. R. Chipman, the Judge-Advocate of the Wh'z Commission, to 
show by me that this report was seen by President Davis, but that 
effort failed, because I knew nothing on that subject. Tliis was 
substantially all that I knew of my own knowledge, and so was 
competent to prove as a witness, in resj^ect to the report. But very 
much more came to my knowledge as hearsay, not competent 
legally, yet as credible as what I knew directly. 

My observations, during the several days I was in attendance 
and watching the proceedings of the Commission, convinced me — : 
whether rightly or wrongly subsequent events have in some de- 
gree developed — that the destruction of Wirz was a very subordi- 
nate object of his so-called trial; that the main objects were to 
blacken the character of the Southern Government, and, as I 
thought, to compass the death of Mr. Davis and Mr. Seddon, who 
were not technically on trial, but were alleged to have " conspired" 
with Wirz and others to kill and murder the Federal prisoners, &c. 
One was immured in irons in a casemate of Fortress Monroe, the other 
was in a casemate in Fort Pulaski. Believing that their lives were 
in danger, I sought Mr. L. Q. Washington, who was then in Wash- 
ington, and communicated to him the apprehensions I felt, and 
urged him to communicate them to Mr. Seddon's friends, with 
whom I knew him to be intimate. I learned that he did so; and 
Mrs. Seddon sent Captain Phillip Welford, a gentleman of great 
intelligence, to Washington to see what was best to be done to pro- 
tect her helpless husband, who was being prosecuted while a pri- 
soner six hundred miles away. The result of Captain Welford's 
investigations and conferences with friends in Washington, was 
that it was not deemed judicious for Mr. Seddon to be represented 
directly by counsel, but that he should place his materials of de- 
fence and explanation touching the Chandler report in the hands 
of Wirz's counsel ; and this was done. The Government had gone 
into all this matter, and the response, therefore, on every principle 
of fair dealing or of law, was legitimate in that cause. Colonel Robert 
Ould and General J. E. Mulford, therefore, were summoned to show 
what the action of the Confederate Government on Colonel Chan- 
dler's report was. Judge Ould attended, and General Mulford was 
prepared to do so and to corroborate him. Judge Ould, as Mr. 
Welford informed me, unless my memory is at fault, was prepared to 
state that as soon as Colonel Chandler's report was presented to 
Mr. Seddon, the latter sent for him and showed the terrible mor- 
tality prevailing at Andersonville, instructed him to go down James 
river at once with his flag-of-truce boat, see General Mulford, inform 
him of the state of things there; that its causes, by reason of the 
blockade, were beyond our resources to prevent; bvit that we were 
unwilling that the breach of the cartel should entail such suffering; 
and to propose that the Federals might send as many medical offi- 
cers to Andersonville and other prisons as they pleased, with such 
supplies, and funds, medicine, clothing, and whatever else would 
conduce to health and comfort, with power to organize their own 



1 



202 Southern Historical Society Papers. 



methods of distribution, and without other restriction than a per- 
sonal parole of honor not to convey information prejudicial to us, 
on condition that we, too, should be allowed to relieve the sufferings 
of our men in Northern prisons by sending medical officers with 
like powers, who should take cotton (the only exchange we pos- 
sessed) to buy supplies necessary for our people; that this was im- 
mediately communicated early in August, 1864, to General Mul- 
ford, who was informed of the state of things at Andersonville; 
that he communicated this proposition to his immediate superiors, 
and had no answer for some two or three weeks, and when the 
answer came it was a simple refusal; that General INIulford 
promptly communicated this to Judge Ould, and he to Mr. Sed- 
don; that immediately thereon Mr. Seddon directed Colonel Ould 
to return down the river (James), see General Mulford and say 
that in three days from the time we were notified that transporta- 
tion would be at Savannah to receive them, the Federals should 
have deliverd them ten thousand of the sick from Andersonville, 
whether we were allowed any equivalent in exchange for them or not, as a 
mere measure of humanity; that this was promptly done; and 
General Mulford, as I was informed, would have stated that, 
so impressed was he with the enormous suffering, which it 
was the desire of our Government to spare-, that not content with 
an official letter through the usual channels, he went in person to 
Washington, into the office of Secretary Stanton, told him the 
whole story, and urged prompt action, but got no reply. Nor was 
a reply vouchsafed to this offer until the latter part of December, 
1864 ; meanwhile some fifteen thousand men had died. If these 
be the facts, who is responsible ? 

My deliberate conviction at the time, and ever since, has been 
that the authorities at Washington considered thirty thousand men, 
just in the rear of General Johnston's army in Georgia, drawing 
their rations from the same stores from which his army had to be 
fed, would be better used up there than in the Federal ranks, in 
view of the fact that they could recruit their armies, while we had 
exhausted our material; that the refusal to exchange prisoners, and 
the denial of our offers in regard to the sick at Andersonville, was 
part of the plan of attrition. It will be remembered that the friends 
of Federal soldiers in prison at the South had become clamorous 
about the stoppage of exchanges. The Northern press had taken 
the matter up, and the authorities had been arraigned as responsi- 
ble, I have never doubted that one collateral object of tlie Wirz 
trial was by a perfectly unilateral trial (?), in which the prosecutor 
had everytliing his own way to manufacture an answer to these 
just complaints. And I feel a conviction that the truth will one 
day be vindicated; that, having reference to relative resources. 
Federal prisoners were more humanely dealt with in Confederate t 
hands than Confederate prisoners were in Federal hands. It was 
their interest, on a cold-blooded calculation, to stop exchanges 
when they did it — and as soon as it was their interest, they did it : 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 203 

without scruple or mercy. The responsibility of the lives lost at 
Andersonville rests, since July, 1864, on General Meredith, Com- 
missary-General of Prisoners, and (chiefly) on Edwin M. Stanton, 
Secretary of War. No one of sound head or heart would now hold 
the Northern people responsiljle for these things. The blood is on 
the skirts of their then rulers; and neither Mr. Garfield nor Mr. 
Blaine can change the record. 

I never heard that there was any particular "suffering" at Libby 
or Belle Isle, and do not believe there was. Crowded prisons are 
not comfortable places, as our poor fellows found at Fort Delaware, 
Johnson's Island, &c. 

I have at this late day no means of refreshing my memory in 
regard to the general orders on the subject of prison treatment, but 
this as a general fact I do know, that Mr. Davis' humanity was 
considered to be a stronger sentiment with him than public justice, 
and it was a common remark that no soldier capitally convicted 
was ever executed, if the President reviewed the record of his con- 
viction. He was always slow to adopt the policy of retaliation for 
the barbarities inflicted by local commanders on the other side. 
The controversy between General Winder and Colonel Chandler 
was never brought to an investigation, for the reasons mentioned 
above. What the result of that investigation would have been no 
one can now tell; but I will say in reference to this true old patriot 
and soldier — a genial man, whose zeal was sometimes ahead of his 
discretion — that if he was, at Andersonville, the fiend pretended 
by the "Bloody Shirt" shriekers, he had in his old age changed his 
nature very suddenly. I never saw any reason to consider Colonel 
Chandler's rej^ort wilfully injurious to General Winder, and sup- 
posed that it was the result of those misunderstandings which not 
unfrequently spring up between an inspecting officer and a post 
commander, when the former begins to find fault. 

I have written hastily. In minor details, the lapse of twelve 
years may render my memory inaccurate, but of the general accu- 
racy of the narrative I have given, as lying in my own knowledge 
or reported to me by those whose names I have mentioned, I vouch 
without hesitation. 

Respectfully, vours truly, 

R. G. H. Kean. 

We have also a 

LETTER FROM SECRETARY SEDDON, 

dated March 27th, 1876, from which we give the following extract: 

"Unfortunately, during my imprisonment after the war, nearly 
all the papers and memoranda I had connected with the adminis- 
tration of the War Department were destroyed, and I have had so 
little satisfaction in dwelling upon the sad sacrifices and sufferings 
that attended and. resulted from the futile though glorious efforts 



204 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

of our people in their lost cause, that I have sought rather to allow 
my memories of events to be dimmed or obliterated, than to 
brighten or cherish them. I have not a copy of any of my own 
reports, nor of that of Colonel Chandler, to which you specially * 
refer, and have of that by no means a lively recollection. I do 
remember however, generally, that it severely reflected on General 
Winder, and while it induced calls for explanation and defence '- 
from General Winder, it at the same time, from its terms, inspired 
an impression of controversy, and perhaps angry and incautious 
expressions between them, which warned to caution in receiving 
them as accurate representations of the facts. The Department 
was aware of the strict instructions which had been given, both 
verbally and by written orders, for the selection and preparation of 
the military prisons, especially that of Andersonville, with special 
view to the health and comfort of the prisoners, and for their 
humane treatment and supply on the same footing with our own ; 
troops, and could not hastily accept an account of such orders 
being wantonly disregarded by an old, regularly trained officer, 
rather noted as a rigid disciplinarian, or of cruel and unofficer- 
like treatment of prisoners on his part. The authorities, too, knew 
only too well the grave and growing deficiencies of all supplies, 
and the sad necessities the war was by its ruthless conduct impos- 
ing on all affected by its course. They also knew that unexpected 
events had forced the assemblage of a far greater number of pri- 
soners than had been anticipated and provided for in the few safer 
points of confinement, before others had or could be provided for 
them, and we were daily looking and counting on a large number 
being removed by the liberal offer of some 10,000 of those suff"ering 
from sickness to "be returned (without equivalent) to the Federals; 
and on the completion of new, safe prisons for the accommodation 
of others. The Department, under such circumstances, could not 
so hastily receive and act on the representations of this report, or 
condemn General Winder without investigation and response from 
him. His reports and explanations were of a very different char- 
acter, and, as far as I now recollect, deemed exonerating. I cannot 
recall exactly the time or circumstances of his promotion as Gen- 
eral, but certainly no advance was ever accorded under any con- 
viction of inhumanit}^ or undue severity to prisoners by him, much 
less as a support to him therein, or a reward for such conduct." 

Do not these letters show beyond all cavil that so far from there 
being a deliberate purpose on the part of the Confederate Govern- 
ment to murder Federal prisoners, that a report of their sufifering ' 
condition met the promptest attention ; that General Winder was , 
at once asked to explain the charges made against him, and did 
give satisfactory explanations; that Colonel Chandler's request for 
a court of inquiry was only postiDoned because officers to compose 
the court could not be spared from the field, and that without 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 205 

waiting to hear General Winder's explanations, Mr. Seddon sent 
i Judge Ould to tell the Federal Agent of Exchange of the reported 
ijsuffering of the Federal prisoners, and to urge the acceptance of his 
j humane proposition, that if they would not exchange, or allow their 
iOwn surgeons to come to their relief, or allow the Confederate Gov- 
ernment to buy medicines for them, they would at least send trans- 
portation to Savannah and receive their sick without any equivalent. 
And since the Federal Government turned a deaf ear to all of these 
appeals, are they not responsible before God and at the bar of his- 
tory for every death that ensued f 

\ If it could be proven beyond all doubt that the officers at Ander- 
Ijsonville were the fiends incarnate that Northern hatred pictures 
Ijthem to be, there is not one scintilla of proof that the Government 
'|at Richmond ordered, approved or in any way countenanced their 
ij" atrocities." It is not, therefore, necessary for our purpose that we 
jjshould go into any 

I DEFENCE OP GENERAL WINDER. 

i And yet, as an act of simple justice to the memory of this officer, 

I we give the following letters: 

'.\ Sabot Hill, December 29, 1875. 

pir. W. S. Winder, Baltimore : 

'■ Dear Sir — Your letter reached me some two weeks since, 

t,and I have been prevented by serious indisposition from giving it 
an early reply. 

I take pleasure in rendering my emphatic testimony to relieve 

Hhe character and reputation of your father, the late General John 
H. Winder, from the unjust aspersions that have been cast upon 
them in connection with the treatment of the Federal prisoners 
under his charge during our late civil war. 

I had, privately and officially, the fullest opportunity of knowing 

'ihis character, and judging his disposition and conduct towards the 

'Federal prisoners; for those in Richmond, where he was almost 
daily in official communication with me, often in respect to them, 
had been some time under his command before, in large measure 
from the care and kindness he was believed to have shown to them, 

^he was sent South to have the supervision and control of the large 

! number there being aggregated. 
His manner and mode of speech were perhaps naturally some- 
what abrupt and sharp, and his military bearing may have added 
more of sternness and imperiousness; but these were mere sujDer- 
' ficial traits, perhaps, as I sometimes thought, assumed in a manner 
Ho disguise the real gentleness and kindness of his nature. 

I thought him marked by real humanity towards the weak and 
)i helpless — such as women and children, for instance — by that spirit 



206 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

of protection and defence which distinguished the really gallant 
soldier. 

To me he always expressed sympathy, and manifested a strong 
desire to provide for the wants and comforts of the prisoners under 
his charge. Very frequently, from the urgency of his claims in 
behalf of the prisoners while in Richmond, controversies would 
arise between him and the Commissary-General, which were sub- 
mitted to me by them in person for my decision, and I was struck 
by his earnestness and zeal in claiming the fullest supplies the law 
of the Confederacy allowed or gave color of claim to. This law re- 
quired prisoners to have the allowance provided for our own soldiers 
in the field, and constituted the guide to the settlement of such ques- 
tions. Strict injunctions were invariably given from the Depart- 
ment for the observance of this law, both then and afterwards, in 
the South, and no departure was to be tolerated from it except 
under the direst straits of self-defence. Your father was ever re- 
solved, as far as his authority allowed, to act upon and enforce the 
rule in behalf of the prisoners. 

When sent South I know he was most solicitous in regard to all 
arrangements for salubrity and convenience of location for the mili- 
tary prisons, and for all means that could facilitate the supplies and 
comforts of the prisoners, and promote their health and preserva- 
tion. That afterwards great sufferings were endured by the prison- 
ers in the South was among the saddest necessities of the war; but 
they were due, in a large measure, to the cessation of exchange, 
which forced the crowding of numbers, never contemplated, in the 
limited prison bounds which could be considered safe in the South, 
to the increasing danger of attack on such places, which made South- 
ern authorities and commanders hostile to the establishment of 
additional prisons in convenient localities, and to the daily increas- 
ing straits and deficiencies of su232:>lies of the Confederate Govern- 
ment, and not to the want of sympathy or humanity on the part 
of your father, or his most earnest efforts to obviate and relieve the 
inevitable evils that oppressed the unfortunate prisoners. I know 
their sad case, and his impotency to remedy it caused him keen 
anguish and distress. 

Amid the passions and outraged feelings yet surviving our terri- 
ble struggle, it may be hard still to have justice awarded to the true 
merits and noble qualities of your father, but in future and happier 
times I doubt not all mists of error obscuring his name and fame 
will be swept away under the light of impartial investigation, and 
he will be honored and revered, as he ought to be, among the most 
faithful patriots and gallant soldiers of the Southern Confederacy. 
Very truly yours, 

James A. Seddon. 

[ Copy. ] 

Montreal, 20th June, 1867. 

My Dear Sir — ■ * * * j have never doubted that all had 
been done for the comfort and preservation of the prisoners at An- 



/ 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 207 

dersonville that the circumstances rendered possible. General 
Winder I had known from my first entrance into the United States 
army as a gallant soldier and an honorable gentleman. Cruelty to 
those in his power, defenceless and sick men, was inconsistent with 
the character of either a soldier or a gentleman. I was always, 
therefore, confident that the charge was unjustly imputed. * * * 
The efforts made to exchange the prisoners may be found in the 
published reports of our Commissioner of Exchanges, and they 
were referred to in several of my messages to the Confederate Con- 
gress. They show the anxiety felt on our part to relieve the cap- 
tives on both sides of the sufferings incident to imprisonment, and 
how that humane purpose was obstructed by the enemy in disre- 
gard of the cartel which had been agreed upon. * * * * 
I am, very respectfully and truly, yours, 

Jefferson Davis. 
To K. R. Stevenson, Stewiacke, N. S. 

Special attention is called to the following from the venerable 
Adjutant-General of the Confederacy, whose endorsement upon the 
report of Colonel Chandler has been as widely copied (and per- 
verted) as the reported action of Mr. Seddon "indignantly remov- 
ing General Winder " : 

[Copy.] . 

Alexandria, Va., July 9, 1871, 
Dear Sir — * * * j ^j^^-j^ however, with perfect truth declare as 
my conviction that General Winder, who had the control of the 
Northern prisoners, was an honest, upright and humane gentleman, 
and as such I had known him for many years. He had the repu- 
tation in the Confederacy of treating the prisoners confided to his 
general supervision with great kindness and consideration, and 
fully possessed the confidence of the Government, which would 
not have been the case had he adopted a different course of action 
toward them ; and this was exemplified by his assignment to Ander- 
son ville by the special direction of the President. Both the Presi- 
dent and Secretary of War always manifested great anxiety that 
the prisoners should be kindly treated and amply provided with 
food to the extent of our means, and they both used their best 
means and exertions to these ends. 

Yours truly, 

S. Cooper. 
To Dr. R. R. Stevenson, StewiacJce, Nova Scotia. 

The two following letters need no comment, except to call atten- 
tion to the fact that General Beauregard's call for the prisoners was 
avowedly in retaliation for General Sherman's previous course, and 
that General Winder's refusal to fill the requisition is a most sig- 
nificant refutation of the charge of brutality to prisoners made 
against him : 



208 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

Alexandkia, April 3, 18G8. 

My Dear Captain — Yours of the 2d has been received, and in 
reply I beg leave to say that I have no copies of the letters and 
orders referred to, but I have an entry in my journal of the date of 
the 9th of January, 1865, whilst headquarters were at Mont- 
gomery, Alabama. The entry is substantially as follows: "In pur- 
suance of orders, I addressed a letter to General Winder, requesting 
him to turn over thirty Federal prisoners to Major Hottle, quarter- 
master, for the purpose of taking out sub-terra shells and torpedoes 
from the cuts in the West Point and Atlanta railroad. Shortly 
afterwards I received from General Winder a rei)ly, stating that he 
could not comply with the request, as it would not only violate the 
orders of the War Department, but would be in contravention of 
the laws and usages of war." 

I have no objection to your using this information on such occa- 
sions and terms as you may deem proper for the vindication of 
your father, but I would suggest this consideration : that a public 
use in the present heated and embittered condition of political 
affairs would result in no practical use, and might possibly create 
unnecessary prejudice against those now living and to Southern 
interests. 

Very truly yours, 

George W. Brent. 

New Orleans, February 15, 1876. 

My Dear Sir — I regret to find from your letter of inquiry, that 
General Sherman seeks to extenuate one of those violations of the 
rules of civilized warfare, which characterized his campaign through 
Georgia and South Carolina, by the easily refuted slander upon the 
Confederate army to which you call my attention, namely: That 
in his em^jloyment of Confederate prisoners during that campaign 
to search and dig up torpedoes, he acted " only in retaliation " for 
the like employment of Federal prisoners by Confederate com- 
manders — an assertion reckless even for General Sherman, whose 
heedlessness of what he writes and speaks was notorious before the 
appearance of his " Memoirs." 

I myself can recall no occasion when Federal prisoners were or 
could "have been emploj'ed, as alleged by that General, even had it 
been legitimate, and not a shocking inhumanity, to do so; tliat is 
to say, 1 do not believe General Sherman can specify, with date, 
any place that came into possession of tlie Confederates during the 
war, where torpedoes were planted, which they had to remove 
either by resort to the use of Federal prisoners or any other means. 
There certainly was never such a place or occasion in the depart- 
ments which I commanded. 

I recollect distinctly, however, learning immediately after the fall 
of Savannah, that General Sherman himself had put Confederate 
prisoners to this extraordinary use in his approach to that city, as 
also at the capture of Fort McAllister, and I thereupon made, 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 209 

through my Chief of Staff, Colonel G. W. Brent, a requisition on our 
Commissary of Prisoners of War, General Winder, for a detachment 
of Federal ^jrisoners, to be employed in retaliation, should the oc- 
casion occur. I further recollect that your brother answered that, 
under his instructions from the Confederate War Department, he 
could not comply; also that, in his belief, prisoners could not right- 
fully be so employed. 

That General Sherman, as I had heard at the time, did so employ 
his prisoners, stands of record at page 194, vol. 2, of his Memoirs: 
"On the 8th (December, 1864), as I rode along, I found the column 
turned out of the main road, marching through the fields. Close 
by, on the corner of a fence, was a group of men standing around 
a handsome young officer, whose foot had been blown to pieces by 
a torpedo planted in the road. ***** 
He told me that he was riding along with the rest of his brigade 
staff of the Seventeenth Corps, when a torpedo, trodden on by his 
horse, had exploded, killing the horse and literally blowing off all the 
flesh from one of his legs. I saw the terrible wound and made full 
inquiry into the facts. There had been no resistance at that point; 
nothing to give warning of the danger; the Rebels had planted 
eight inch shells in the road with friction matches to explode them 
by being trodden on. This was no war, but murder, and it made 
me very angry. I immediately ordered a lot of Rebel prisoners to 
be brought from the provost guard with picks and shovels, and 
made them march in close order along the road, so as to explode 
or discover and dig them up. They begged hard, but I reiterated 
the order, and could hardly help laughing at their stepping so gin- 
gerly along the road where it was supposed sunken torpedoes might 
explode at eack stejj, but they found no other till near Fort McAllis- 
ter." 

Here we have his own confession that he pushed a mass of un- 
armed men, prisoners of war, aliead of his column to exi^lode tor- 
pedoes, which he apprehended were planted in the approaches to a 
strongly fortified position, his ability to carry which he greatly 
doubted, as may be seen from his " Memoirs." He does not there 
pretend that he acted " in retaliation" at all, but because, forsooth, 
he was "angry" that one of his officers had been badly wounded 
by a torpedo which had been planted in his path "without giving 
warning of danger " ! Surely his own narrative, with its painful 
levity, gives as bad a hue to the affair as General Sherman's worst 
enemies could desire. It remains to be said that he omits mention 
of another instance of this unwarrantable employment of prisoners 
of war. After General Hazen (on December 13) had handsomely 
assaulted and carried Fort McAllister, General Sherman, in person, 
ordered the Confederate engineer officer of the fort, with men of 
that garrison then prisoners, to remove all the torpedoes in front of 
the fort which might remain unexploded; gallant soldiers who, 
under their commander. Major G. W. Anderson, had "only suc- 
cumbed as each man was individually overpowered." (General Ha- 



210 Southern Historical Society/ Papers. 

zen's official report). Major Anderson, in his rej^ort, says : " This 
hazardous duty (removal of the torpedoes) was performed without 
injury to any one; but it appearing to me as an unwarrantable and 
improper treatment of prisoners of war, I have thought it right to 
refer to it in this rejDort." General Sherman might with equal right 
have pushed a body of prisoners in front of an assaulting column 
to serve as a gabion-roller. 

His manner of relating the incidents, which I have quoted in his 
own words, is calculated to give the impression that the use of the 
torpedoes is something so abhorrent in regular warfare that he 
could subject his unarmed prisoners to the hazard of exploding 
them and deserve credit for the act ! A strange oblicjuity in the 
general-in-chief of an army which has, at the present moment, a 
special torpedo corps attached to it as an important defensive re- 
source to fortified places; in one who, moreover, was carefully taught 
at West Point how to plant the equivalent of torpedoes as known 
to engineers of that date — i. e., " crows'-feet," "trous-de-loups," 
"fougasses," "mines," etc. 

For my part, from the day of the capitulation of Fort Sumter, 
in 1861, when, in order to save a brave soldier and his command 
from all unnecessary humiliation, I allowed Major Anderson the 
same terms offered him before the attack — i. ("., to salute his flag with 
fifty guns, and to go forth with colors flying and drums beating, 
taking off company and private property — down to the close of the 
war, I always favored and practiced liberal treatment of prisoners. 
At the same time, however, I always urged the policy of rigid and 
prompt retaliation, at all cost, for every clear infraction of the set- 
tled laws of war; for history shows it to be the only effectual method 
of recalling an enemy from inhuman courses. Washington nevet 
hesitated to apply the painful remedy during our Revolutionary 
war. 

I am yours, most truly, 

G. T. Beauregard. 
W. H. WiNDEE, Esq., New York, N. Y. % 

Since the foregoing was written we have seen a letter from Judge 
Ould, in the Saint Louis Globe-Democrat, which so ably refutes the 
charge made against him on the faith of a garbled letter of his, 
and brings out other points so clearly, that we give it entire except 
the introductory paragraphs : 

KICH3I0ND, Va., October 5th, 1875. 

" I will now give the history and contents of the letter which 
"S." produces as the sole proof of my premeditated complicity in 
the murder of Federal prisoners. When Richmond was evacuated 
in April, 1865, this letter was found among the scattered debris of 
General Winder's office. The first time I ever saw it published in 
full was in the Washington Chronicle, a well-known Republican 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 211 

paper, of the date of August 25, 1868. It was then and there made 
the basis of a savage attack upon_me. Of course, everything in the 
letter which could be damaging to me was set forth. The latter 
part of it was printed in italics. I will give the letter as it appeared 
in the Chronicle, and beneath it I will give the version of "S." 
I did not retain a copy, but I believe the letter as it appeared in 
the Chronicle is exactly the one which I did write. Here, then, are 
the two versions : 

the chronicle version. 

City Point. 

Sir — A flag-of-truce boat has arrived with 350 political prisoners, 
General Barrow, and several other prominent men amongst them. 

I wish you to send me, at 4 o'clock Wednesday morning, all the 
military prisoners (except officers) and all the political prisoners 
you have. If any of the political prisoners have on hand proof 
enough to convict them of being spies, or of having committed 
other offences which should subject them to punishment, so state 
opposite their names. Also, state whether you think, under the 
circumstances, they should be released. 

The arrangement I have made works largely in our favor. We 
get rid of a set of miserable wretches, and receive some of the best 
material I ever saw. 

Ro. OuLD, Agent of Exchange. 
Brigadier-General Winder. 

THE VERSION OF "s." 

"The arrangement I have made works largely in our favor; in 
getting rid of a miserable set of wretches, and receive in return 
some of the best material I ever saw. This, of course, is between 
ourselves." 

"S." gives as the date of my letter, in his first communication, 
August 1, 1864. In his last communication "S." admits his mis- 
take, or that of the compositor, and says that the true date is August 
1, 1863. It will be seen, according to the copy in the Chronicle, that 
the letter has no date. It is the veriest pretence for "S." to shift 
his date from August 1, 1864, to August 1, 1863. I am confident 
the letter had no date, and that it was written long before August, 
1863. Your readers can draw their own conclusion as to this 
double attempt to change the face of my letter. 

But, dates aside, I ask your attention to the difference of the two 
versions. " S." not only cuts off the first part of the letter, which 
explains the purport of the latter part, but he adds to the original 
the words, " this of course is between ourselves." In his last commu- 
nication he makes great ado about these words, and lo ! they now 
turn out to be a forgery. I do not think they amount to much, 
nor would they be any cause of shame if I had written them. 
But "S." seems to think otherwise, and makes use of a plain forgery 



212 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

to sustain his false charge against me. CquIcI not "S." have been 
content with suppressing that portion of my letter which explained 
its last paragraph, without forging an addition to it? Moreover, 
the version of "S." makes me use worse grammar than is my wont. 
In addition to his attemi)t to show me to be a felon, does he desire 
to take from me "the benefit of clergy"? When this letter of mine 
appeared in the Washington Chronicle, in 1868, I addressed a com- 
munication to the National Intellif/encer, which was published in 
that paper on the 29th August, 18<)8, explaining the circumstances 
under which it was written, and showing very clearly that the 
latter paragraph of it did not relate to soldiers at all. In that 
communication I stated what I now repeat — that some three hun- 
dred and fifty political prisoners had arrived at City Point, and 
being anxious not to detain the Federal steamer, I wrote to General 
Winder to send all the political prisoners he had in his charge, as 
well as soldiers; that it was as to these political prisoners that I 
wrote the last paragraph in the letter; that it so manifestly appeared 
from the context; that every word in the paragraph was true, both 
as to the class received and those sent off; that not one Confederate 
soldier in service was received at that time ; that scarcely any one 
of the three hundred and fifty had been in prison a month; that 
all of them had been recently arrested as sympathizers with the 
Confederate cause; that those sent off were miserable wretches in- 
deed, mostly robbers and incendiaries from Western Virginia, who 
were Confederates when Confederate armies occupied theircountry, 
and Unionists when Federal troops held it, and who in turn preyed 
upon one side and the other, and so pillaged that portion of the 
State that it had almost been given over to desolation; that they 
were men without character or principle, who were ready to take 
any oath or engage in any work of plunder; that I then reiterated 
what I had before written — that they were "a set of miserable 
wretches"; that the Federal soldiers who had passed through my 
hands knew well, I hoped, that I would not have applied any such 
phrase to them; and especially so if the calamities of prison life 
had prostrated them, and that inasnmch as in my letter I had re- 
ferred to an arrangement which I had made, I must have referred 
to the exchange of political prisoners which I had just negotiated, 
and not to the exchange of military prisoners, which was negotiated 
by the cartel. 

After this full and frank explanation of the letter, nothing more 
for some seven years was heard of it, until it was revived in a false, 
forged and garbled form by "S." a few weeks since. 

Before its publication in the Chronicle, it had, however, appeared 
in the famous Wirz trial— whether in its true or false form, I do 
not know. In this respect the letter was more fortunate than I 
was, for I was not permitted to appear. Wlrz had summoned me 
through the proper channel as a witness in his behalf. I went to 
Washington in (^bedience to the summons, and was in attendance 
upon the court martial. While in such attendance my subpoena 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War, 213 

was revoked by the Judge-Advocate, and I was dismissed. I venture 
to assert that this was the first case where it ever happened, even 
in countries more unhappy than our own, that a witness who had 
been duly summoned for the defence was dismissed by the prose- 
cution. . 

In my letter to Colonel Wood, the chief complaint that I mnde 
against "S." was that he published only a part of my letter to General 
Winder and ignored the remainder, which was a full explanation 
of what he did publish. The matter of dates to which I referred 
was merely incidental. Now, "S." in his reply has a good deal to 
say about the matter of dates, without pretending to excuse him- 
self for garbling the body of the letter. Whether he has any ex- 
cuse I know not, but I certainly do know that he has offered none. 
When I charge him with suppressing a material part of my letter, 
a part which gave full explanation, it will not do for "S." to ignore 
such charge, and launch out into explanations, satisfactory or un- 
satisfactory, about a mere change of dates. 

In his last communication, " S." seeks to answer what I had de- 
clared in my letter to Colonel Wood, to wit: That the Federal 
authorities were responsible for the suffering of Federal prisoners. 
I referred to a certain statement of mine published in August, 1868, 
in the Saint Louis Times and National Intelligencer. I herewith send 
a copy of that statement, and beg, in the interest of the truth of 
history, that you will republish it. I' ask it, not in the interest of 
hate, nor to revive sectional controversy, nor to inflame the now 
subsiding passions of war. Least of all do I desire to put any 
stigma upon the people of the North, for the sin was that of indi- 
viduals, and they few in number. I think, if a due investigation 
were made, it would be found that the number of sinners would 
not exceed a half dozen. I substantially proposed in my statement 
to prove my case by Federal testimony. The witnesses are alive 
now, and the proofs at hand, if the archives have not been mutilated 
or destroyed. The due investigation of such matter, if prosecuted 
with judicial fairness, instead of increasing any feeling of hate be- 
tween the North and South, would tend to allay it. It would 
conclusively show that the sections were not to be blamed; that 
the people on both sides were not justly amenable to any reproach ; 
that honor, integrity and Christian civilization in the main reigned 
North and South ; that maltreatment of the defenceless and suffer- 
ing was loathed alike by Federal and Confederate jDeople; that the 
story of their participation in or countenance of such wrongs is a 
shameless libel, and that our civil war, although necessarily harsh 
and brutal in its general aspect, was illustrated on both sides by 
high and shining examples of moderatioii, kindness, good faith, 
generosity and knightly courtesy. I do not believe that an investi- 
gation which would develop these facts would tend to fan into a 
flame the old passions of the war. So far from that, I believe it 
would serve to make us respect each other the more. It is true that 
the national wrath might fall upon a few persons who really are 



214 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

the only ones who are responsible for the frightful miseries of the 
prisoners of the war; but such a result, even independent of the 
vindication of the truth, would be far better than that the people 
of either side should believe that the other, even under the prompt- 
ings of evil passions, joined in a crusade against the helpless and 
stiflfering. 

The statement which I ask you to publish contains a reference 
to only some of the points and some of the proofs which can be 
brought forward. I seek not to make myself prominent, or to 
bring myself unduly forward in this matter.- I wish the cup 
could pass from me. But the official position which I occupied 
during the war, as well as the fact that the propositions looking to 
the relief of prisoners went through my hands, seems to require 
that I should step to the front. When I do, I hope that my con- 
duct may be marked by becoming modesty and firmness. 

In my letter to Colonel Wood, I stated that "every one of the 
many propositions for the relief of Federal prisoners, which I not 
only made, but pressed upon the Federal authorities, was uniformly 
disregarded." The proof of that is found in the statement which I 
now ask you to publish. " S." attempts to meet my charge by show- 
ing from the evidence given on the Wirz trial, that there was a large 
amount of stores nafir Andersonville during the time the Federal 
prisoners were confined there. I do not kiiow whether this evi- 
dence conforms to the truth or not. But, admitting that it does, 
how does it answer the charge that I proposed to exchange officer 
for officer and man for man ; or the charge that I proposed that the 
prisoners on each side should be attended by a proper number of 
their own suvfjeons, who, under rules to be estabhshed, should be 
permitted to take charge of their health and comfort, with autliority, 
also, to receive and distribute such contributions of money, food, 
clothing and medicine, as might be forwarded for the relief of prison- 
ers; or the charge that I offered to the United States authorities 
their sick and wounded^ without requiring any equivalent; or the 
charge that I offered to make purchases of medicines from the 
United States authorities, to be used exclusively for the relief of 
Federal prisoners, paying therefor in gold, cotton or tobacco, at 
double or thrice the price, if required, and giving assurances that 
the medicines so bought would be used exclusively in the treatment 
of Federal prisoners, and, indeed, that they might be brought within 
our lines by Federal surgeons and dispensed by them? 

In my letter to Colonel Wood, I stated that I offered the Ander- 
sonville prisoners, without requiring equivalents, in August, 1864; 
that I urged the Federal authorities to send transportation for them 
quickly, and that I accompanied the offer by an official statement 
of the montlily mortality, and set forth our utter inability to pro- 
vide for the prisoners. "S." endeavors to assail the truth of this 
statement by showing that there were large supplies at Anderson- 
ville at or about that time. Admitting the truth of the figures of 
"S."(for as to their correctness I know nothing), how does that 



1 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 215 

fact disprove our utter inability? The mere fact that I offered 
these prisoners, without requiring equivalents, is very strong proof 
of itself of our inability. But were sick men to be physicked with 
"bacon, meal, flour, rice, syrup and whiskey," which were stored at 
Americus and elsewhere in Southwestern Georgia? I offered to 
send off the sick and wounded wherever they might be, at Ander- 
sonville and elsewhere. We had no medicines — the blockade was 
rigid — the Federal authorities had declined to send any medicines, 
even by the hands of their own surgeon.s, and therefore it was I 
said we were utterly unable to provide for the prisoners. It will be 
observed that my declaration of utter inability to provide for the 
prisoners follows immediately my statement of the monthly mor- 
tality at Andersonville. I referred more to medicine than to food, 
though I did not intend entirely to exclude the latter. But does 
not " S." know that there were others besides the prisoners at Ander- 
sonville, who were to be cared for? We had a large army in the 
field. We had our own hospitals to supply. Our armies every- 
where were drawing from Georgia. It was because the stores at 
Americus, Albany and elsewhere were not sufficient to supply both 
prisoners and our own soldiers, that I made the propositions to the 
Federal authorities which I have heretofore mentioned. 

"S." also denies that the mortality at Andersonville was greater 
after I proposed to deliver the Federal prisoners, without requiring 
their equivalents, than it was before. It is the truth, however much 
"S." may deny it. Of course I. speak of the percentage of mor- 
tality, and not the aggregate. After August there were fewer 
prisoners at Andersonville. They were removed to other depots. 
The mortality rate was greater after August than before. It could 
have been spared if transportation had been sent when I so re- 
quested. 

I am sorry to tax your columns with so long a communication, 
but I could not well do justice to the subject in less space. 

Yours, respectfully, Ro. Ould. 

We will add an explanation of another letter which purports to 
have been written by Judge Ould during the war, and which has 
been widely circulated in the Radical papers as proof positive of 
inexcusable cruelty to prisoners. 

The popular version of this letter is as follows: 

Confederate States of America, 
War Department, 
Richmond, Virginia, Marcli 21, 18C3. 

My Dear Sir — If the exigencies of our army require the use 
of trains for the transportation of corn, pay no regard to the Yankee 
prisoners. I would rather they should starve than our own people 
suffer. 

I suppose I can safely put it in writing, "Let them suffer." 

Very truly, your faithful friend, Ro. Ould. 

Colonel A. C. Myers. 



216 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

Judge Ould says that he does not remember ever to have written 
such a letter, and we have searched his letter-book (in which he 
was accustomed to have all of his letters copied) in vain for the 
slightest trace of it. We might simply demand the 'production of the 
original letter. But Judge Ould thinks it possible that in one of his 
many contests with Confederate quartermasters in the interest of 
Federal prisoners he may have complained that transportation was 
not promptly furnished the prisoners — that the parties complained 
of made explanations to the effect that they could not furnish the 
transportation at the time without seriously interfering with feeding 
the Confederate army, and that he may have made on the papers 
some such endorsement, referring to some special set of circum- 
stances. The reference could not be to the general question of 
feeding the prisoners, for with that Judge Ould had nothing to do; 
and he defies the production of all of the papers in his department 
to show that he was ever otherwise than humane to prisoners. 

We have thus given the other side the full benefit of about all 
they have been able in eleven years to garble from the Confederate 
records. 

FIGURES OF SECRETARY STANTON. 

Yet after all that has been said on this subject, the stubborn fact 
remains that over three per cent, more Confederates perished in Northern 
prisons than of Federal prisoners in Southern prisons. The figures to 
prove this statement have been several times given in this discus- 
sion, but they are so significant that we give them again in the form 
in which they were presented by Honorable B. H. Hill in his 
masterly reply to Mr. Blaine. Mr. Hill said : 

*' Now, will the gentleman believe testimon}^ from the dead ? Tlie 
Bible says, ' The tree is known by its fruits.' And, after all, what 
is the test of suffering of these prisoners North and South? The 
test is the result. Now, I call the attention of gentlemen to this 
fact, that the report of Mr. Stanton, the Secretary of War — you 
will believe him, will you not? — on the 19th of July, 18G6 — send to 
the library and get it — exhil:)its the fact that of the Federal pris- 
oners in Confederate hands during the war, only 22,576 died, while 
of the Confederate prisoners in Federal hands 26,436 died. And 
Surgeon-General Barnes reports in an official report — I suppose 
you will believe him — that in round numbers the Confederate 
prisoners in Federal hands amounted to 220,000, while the Federal 
prisoners in Confederate hands amounted to 270,000. Out of the 
270,000 in Confederate hands 22,000 died, while of the 220,000 
Confederates in Federal hands over 26,000 died. The ratio is this :- j ; 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 217 

More than twelve per cent, of the Confederates in Federal hands 
died, and less than nine per cent, of the Federals in Confederate 
hands died. What is the logic of these facts according to the gen- 
tleman from Maine? I scorn to charge murder upon the officials 
•of Northern prisons, as the gentleman has done upon Confederate 
prison officials. I labor to demonstrate that such miseries are 
inevitable in prison life, no matter how humane the regulations." 

An effort 'has since been made by the Radical press to discredit 
these figures, and it has been charged that " Jeff. Davis manufactured 
them for Hill's use." But with ample time to prepare his rejoinder, 
and all of the authorities at hand, Mr. Blaine did not dare to deny 
them. He fully admitted their truth, and only endeavored to 
weaken their force by the following explanation, of which we give 
him the full benefit : 

"Now, in regard to, the relative number of prisoners that died in 
the North and the South respectively, the gentleman undertook to 
■show that a great many more prisoners died in the hands of the 
Union authorities than in the hands of the Rebels. I have had 
conversations with surgeons of the army about that, and they say 
that there were a large number of deaths of Rebel jDrisoners, but 
that during the latter period of the war they came into our hands 
very much exhausted, ill-clad, ill-fed, diseased, so that they died in 
our prisons of diseases that they l^rought with them. And one 
eminent surgeon said, without wishing at all to be quoted in this 
debate, that the question was not only what was the condition of 
the prisoners when they came to us, but what it was when they 
were sent back. Our men were taken in full health and strength ; 
they came back wasted and worn — mere skeletons. The Rebel 
prisoners, in large numbers, were, when taken, emaciated and re- 
duced; and General Grant says that at the time such superhuman 
efforts were made for exchange there were 90,000 men that would 
have re-enforced the Confederate armies the next day, prisoners in 
our hands who were in good health and ready for fight. This con- 
sideration sheds a great deal of light on what the gentleman states." 

The substance of this . extract is that Mr. Blaine does not deny 
the greater mortality of our prisoners in Northern prisons, but ac- 
counts for it on the supposition that our men were so much " ex- 
hausted, so ill-clad, ill-fed and diseased,^'' that they " died of diseases 
that they brought ivith themy 

Now, if this explanation were true it would contain a fatal stab 
to Mr. Blaine's whole argument to prove Confederate cruelty to 
prisoners. If our own soldiers were so ill-clad and ill-fed as to ren- 
der them exhausted, and so diseased that when taken prisoners they 
died like sheep, despite the tender nursing and kind, watchful care 



i 



218 Southern Historical Society Papers. 



which (according to Mr. Blaine) they received at the hands of their 
captors, how could a Government which had not the means of 
making better provision for its own soldiers provide any better 
than we did for the thousands of prisoners which were captured by 
these emaciated skeletons? And what shall we say of General Grant 
and his splendid army of two hundred thousand hale, hearty, well 
equipped men, who, in the campaign of 1864, were beaten on 
every field by forty thousand of these "emaciated and reduced" 
creatures, until, after losing over a third of their men, they were 
compelled to skulk behind their fortifications at Petersburg, and 
absolutely refused "the open field and fair fight," which Lee and 
his "ragamuffins" offered them at every jDoint from the Wilderness 
to Petersburg? 

But, of course, the whole thing is absurd. Our men were on 
half rations, and in rags, it is true; but a healthier, hardier set of 
fellows never marched or fought, and they died in Northern prisons 
(as we shall hereafter show) because of inexcusably harsh treat- 
ment. 

These official figures of Mr. Stanton and Surgeon-General Barnes 
tell the whole story, and nail to the counter the base slander against 
the Confederate Government, 

FAILURE TO MAKE A CASE AGAINST MR. DAVIS. 

But a crowning proof that this charge of cruelty to prisoners is false, 
may be more clearly brought out than it has been above intimated. 
In the proceedings against Wirz, Mr. Davis and other Confederate 
leaders were unquestionably on trial. Every effort that partisan 
hatred or malignant ingenuity could invent was made to connect 
Mr. Davis with and make him responsible for the " crimes of An- 
dersonville." The captured Confederate archives were searched? 
perjured witnesses were summoned, and the ablest laAvyers of the 
reigning party put their wits to work; but the prosecution utterly 
broke down. They were unable to make out a case upon which " 
Holt and Chipman dared to go into a trial even before a military 
court, which was wont to listen patiently to all of the evidence for 
the 'prosecution^ and coolly dismiss the witnesses for the defence. 
Does not this fact speak volumes to disi:»rove the charge, and to 
show that no cases can be made out against our Government? 

But an even stronger jjoint remains. After despairing of con- 
victing Mr. Davis on any testimony which they had or could 
procure, they tried to bribe poor Wirz to save his own life by 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 219 

swearing away the life of Mr. Davis, who was then in irons at 
Fortress Monroe. 

Mr. Hill thus strongly puts it : 

Now, sir, there is another fact. Wirz was put on trial, but really 
Mr. Davis was. the man intended to be tried through him. Over 
one hundred and sixty witnesses were introduced before the mili- 
tary commission. The trial lasted three months. The whole 
country was under military despotism ; citizens labored under 
duress ; quite a large number of Confederates were seeking to make 
favor with the powers of the Government. . Yet, sir, during those 
three months, with all the witnesses they could bring to Washington, 
not one single man ever mentioned the name of Mr. Davis in con- 
nection with a single atrocity at Anclersonville or elsewhere. The 
gentleman from Maine, with all his research into all the histories 
of the Duke of Alva an.d the massacre of Sain{ Bartholomew and 
the Spanish inquisition, has not been able to frighten up such a 
witness yet. 

Now, sir, there is a witness on this subject. Wirz was condemned, 
found guilty, sentenced. to be executed; and I have now before me 
the written statement of his counsel, a Northern man and a Union 
man. He gave this statement to the country, and it has never 
been contradicted. 

Hear what this gentleman says: 

"On the night before the execution of the prisoner W'irz, a tele- 
gram was sent to the Northern press from this city, stating that 
Wirz had made important disclosures to General L. C. Baker, the 
well known detective, implicating Jefferson Davis, and that the 
confession would probably be given to the public. On the same 
evening some parties came to the confessor of Wirz, Rev. Father 
Boyle, and also to me as his counsel, one of them informing me that 
a high Cabinet officer wished to assure Wirz that if he would im- 
plicate Jefferson Davis with atrocities committed at Andersonville, 
his sentence would be commuted. The messenger requested me to 
inform Wirz of this. In presence of Father Boyle I told Wirz next 
morning what had happened." 
« Hear the reply: 

"Captain Wirz simply and quietly replied: 'Mr. Schade, you 
know that I have always told you that I do not know anything 
about Jefferson Davis. He had no connection with me as to what 
was done at Andersonville. I would not become a traitor against 
him or an3'body else, even to save my life.'" 

Sir, what Wirz, within two hours of his execution, would not 
say for his life, the gentleman from Maine says to the country to 
keep himself and his party in power. 

The statement of Mr. Schade is confirmed by the following ex- 
tract from the Cyde^ of Mobile, Alabama: 

In the brief report of the speech of Mr. Hill in Congress on Monday 



220 Southern Historical Society Papers, 

last, copied in another place, it will be observed that he refers to a 
statement made by Captain Wirz to his counsel just before his 
death. The subjoined letter from Professor R. B. Winder, M. D., 
now Dean of the Baltimore Dental College, who was a prisoner in 
a cell near that of Wirz, will give a more detailed account of the 
same transaction. The letter was written in reply to an inquiry 
made in the course of investigation in the history of the transac- 
tions which have been made the subject of discussion in Congress. 
Dr. Winder speaks of the statement as having been already sev- 
eral times published. We do not remember to have seen it before. 
At any rate, it will well bear repetition, and will come in very per- 
tinently, aproj)os of the recent debate : 

Baltimore, November IG, 1875. 
Major W. T. Walthall : 

My Dear Sir — Your letter of the 25th of last month was duly 
received, and except from sickness should have been replied to long 
ago. I take pleasure in giving you the facts which you request, 
but they have already been published several times in the difi'erent 
papers of the country. 

A night or two before Wirz's execution, early in the evening, I 
saw several male individuals (looking like gentlemen) pass into 
Wirz's cell. I was naturally on the " qui viye" to know the meaning 
of this unusual visitation, and was hoping and expecting, too, that 
it might be a reprieve — for even at that time I was not prepared to 
believe that so foul a judicial murder would be perpetrated — so I 
stood at my door and directly saw these men pass out again. / 
think, indeed I am quite certain, there -were three of them. Wirz came 
to his door, which was immediately opposite to mine, and I gave 
him a look of inquiry which he at once understood. He said: 
"These men have just offered me my liberty if I will testify against 
Mr. Davis and criminate him with the charges against the Ander- 
sonville prison; I told them that I could not do this, as I neither •' 
knew Mr. Davis personally officially, or socially, but that if they 
expected with the offer of my miserable life to purchase me to treason 
and treachery to the South, they had undervalued me." I asked him if 
he knew Avho the parties were. He said "no," and that they had? 
refused to tell him who they were — but assured him that they had 
full power to do wdiatever they might promise. This is all, and as 
you perceive, I did not hear the conversation, but merely report 
what Wirz said to me — but he also made the same statement to his 
counsel, Mr. Schade, of Washington city, and he has also, under 
his own signature, published these facts. 

You will better understand the whole matter from the accom- 
panjdng diagram of our respective jails. The doors opened imme- 
diately opposite, and it was such hot weather that the}^ allowed 
the doors to be open — the corridor being always heavily guarded 
by sentinels, and a sentinel was always posted directly between 
these openings — but Wirz and myself were often allowed to 
converse. Very truly yours, R. B. Winder. 



D'eatment of Prisoners During the War. 221 

Have we not made out our case so far as we have gone? But 
our material is by no means exhausted, and we sliall take up the 
subject, again in our next issue. We propose to discuss still further 
the question of exchange, and then to pass to a consideration of the 

i treatment of Confederate prisoners by the Federal authorities. We 
ask that any of our friends who have material illustrating any 

I branch of this subject will forward it to us at once. 

* We have a number of diaries of prison life by Confederates who 
did not find Elmira, Johnson's Island, Fort Delaware, Rock Island, 
Camp Douglas, Camp Chase, &c., quite so pleasant as Mr. Blaine's 
rose-colored picture of Northern prisons would make it appear. 
And we have also strong testimony from Federal soldiers and citi- 
zens of the North as to ihe truth of our version of the prison ques- 
tion. But we would be glad to receive further statements bearing 
on this whole question, as we desire to prepare for the future his- 
torian the fullest j)ossible material for the vindication of our slan- 
dered people. 

To those who may deprecate the reopening of this question, we 
would say that we did not reopen it. The South has rested in 
silence for years under these slanderous charges; and we should 
have, perhaps, been content to accumulate the material in our ar- 
chives, and leave our vindication to the "coming man" of the 
future who shall be able to write a true history of the great strug- 
gle for constitutional freedom. But inasmuch as the question has 
been again thrust upon the country by a Presidential aspirant, and 
the Radical press is filled with these calumnies against our Govern- 

* ment, we feel impelled to give at least an outline of our defence. 
We will only add that we have not made, and do not mean to 
make, a single statement tvhich we cannot prove before any fair-minded 
tribunal, from documents in our possession. 



222 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

JSxlitxirial ^ifat^agrapbe. 



OuB thanks are due to many friends who have pushed the cu-culation of 
our Papers, and to the press for the most kindly notices. Our subscription 
list is still rapidly increasing, but wo bespeak the kind help of our friends to 
give us such a list as will enable us to make various improvements in the get 
up of our Fajjers. 



We have no fixed day of the montli for our issue, but we will use our best 
endeavors to let each number appear before the close of tlie month. 



. ; 



An important typographical error in Judge Quid's letter to General Hitch- 
cock, page 127, crept into the copy we used and was carelessly overlooked by 
us in readuig the proof. The date ought, of course, to be "1864" instead of 

"186S." 



We are obliged to surrender tliis month so large a part of our editorial ; 
space that we omit much that we had desired to say. 



Book Notices. 

Memorial Virginia Military Institute. By Charles D. Walker, late Assistant 

Professor Virginia Mlitary Institute. Philadelphia : J. B. Lippiucott 

&Co. 

We are indebted to the courtesy of General F. 11. Smith, Superintendent 
of the Virginia Military Institute, for a copy of this book, which contains 
brief sketches of one hundred and seventy of the graduates and 61oves of the 
Virginia Military Institute who gave their lives to the Confederate cause. 
Tlie volume contains also a discourse on the life and character of Lieu- 
tenant-General T. J. Jackson by General F. H. Smith, a sketch of the battle 
of New Market by General Smith, and a memorial poem by James Barroa 
Hope, Esq. 

;Mr. Walker has done his work admirably. He has called to his aid the pens 
of some of our most distinguished men, and has made a record of self-denying 
heroism and high military skill which reflects the highest credit upon the 
Institute, and should find a place in every home in the South, tliat our youth 
may study the characters and imitate the virtues of these noble men who 
freely yielded up theii' lives at the call of native land. 



The Confederate Currency. By William Lee, M. D., of Washington, D. C. 
The author has kindly sent us a copy of this pamplilet, together with plates 



Editorial Paragraphs. 223 

illustrating the various issues of Confederate notes. It is a publication of 
rare interest and value, and we are not- supprised to learn tliat a new edition 
has been called for. 



Our Living and Our Dead. 

The editor and proprietor, Colonel S. D. Pool, has donated to our library- 
three beautifully bound volumes of this magazine, wliich he has been pub- 
lishing in Raleigh, North Carolina. It contains a great deal of historic 
value, and is a higlily prized addition to our library. 



Books Received. 

We acknowledge the receipt of the following books, which will be noticed 
more fully hereafter : 

From D. Appleton & Co., New York : 
Cookers Life of General R. E. Lee. 
A Military Biography of Stonewall Jaclcson. By Colonel John Esten Cooke. 

With an ai:)pendix (containing an account of the Inaugiu-ation of Foley's 

statue, etc.), by Rev. J. Wm. Jones. 

General Joseph E. Johnston'' s Narrative. 

Personal Beminiscences^ Anecdotes and Letters of General R. E. Lee. By 
Rev. J. Wm. Jones, D. D. 

S}ierman''s Memoirs and ShucJcers^ Life of Chief Justice Chase. 

From the publishers. Harper Brothers, New York (through West & 
Johnston, Richmond) : 
Draper''s Civil War in America. , 

From J. B. Lippincott, PhUadelpliia (through West & Johnston) : 
Dixon's New America. 

From West & Johnston, Richmond : 
A beautiful lithograph of the Ordinance of Secession of Virginia, and the 

signatures of the members of the conventioii. 

From the au^^^hor (Dr. Joseph Jones, New Orleans) : 
Medical and Surgical Memoirs, 1855-1876. 



224 Southern Historical Society Papers. 



Mmm Bmn Mim, 




PUBLISHED EVERY MONTH 

UNDER THE DIRECTION OF TEE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 
OF THE SOUTHERN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



These papers will contain a great deal of the official history 
of the late war, and many contributions frotti the ablest of the 
men who made the great struggle for constitutional freedom. It 
is proposed to issue a number every month, properly arranged for 
binding, so that at the end of the year each subscriber will have a 
large volume of matter that will be of deep historic interest, and 
simply INVALUABLE to every one who desires to know the truth 
about the late war. 

We furnish these Papers free of charge to members of the 
Society who have paid their annual fees, and to other subscribers at 

THUEE DOLLAHS PER ANNUM. 

As our Monthly will go into every State of the South, and 
oirculate among our very best people, it offers rare inducements to 
advertisers. We will insert a few advertisements at the following 
rates : 

12 mos. C moa. 3 mos. 1 mo. 

1 pai^e $75 $40 $25 $10 

i page 40 25 15 6 

I page 25 15 8 3 

We desire to secure everywhere suitable agents to canvass for 
members of the Society, or subscribers to our Papers. 
Address 

Rev. J. WILLIAM JONES, 

Secretary Southern Historical Society, Richmond, Va. 



iiera BisMiciL iim mm. 



Tol. I. 



Richmond, Ya., April, 1876. 



No. 4. 



THE TKEATMENT OF PRISONERS DURING THE WAR BETWEEN 

THE STATES. 

[Compiled by the Secretary of the Southern Historical Society.] 

We stated in our last issue that we should resume this subject in 
this number. But instead of finishing at this point the discussion 
of the Exchange question, we will first dispose of 

THE TREATMENT OF CONFEDERATE PRISONERS BY THE FEDERAL 
AUTHORITIES. 

The ex parte reports of the Federal Congress, the reports of the 
United States officials, the reports of the Sanitary Commission, 
various books that partisan writers at the North have published, 
and the Radical press generally, have represented that while the Con- 
federate authorities deliberately, wilfully, and persistently, starved, 
tortured, and murdered Union prisoners, the Federal "authorities 
always treated their captives in the most considerate and humane 
manner. Indeed the impression s.ought to be made is that Con-, 
federates fared so much better in Federal prisons than they did in 
the Confederate army, that their capture was really a blessing to 
them — that they came to prison emaciated skeletons, and were sent 
back (except those who " died of diseases they brought with 
them ") sleek, hale, healthy men. 

We might quote largely on this point from the writings alluded 
to, but we will only give an extract from the speech of Hon. James 
G. Blaine, uttered deliberately on the floor of the United States 
House of Representatives eleven years after the close of the ivar : 

" Now I undertake here to say that there is not a Confederate 
soldier now living who has any credit as a man in his community, 
and who ever was a prisoner in the hands of the Union forces, who 
will say that he ever was cruelly treated ; that he ever was deprived 
of the same rations that the Union soldiers had — the same food 
and the same clothing. 



1 



226 Southern Historical Society Papers, 



"Mr. Cook. Thousands of them say it — thousands of them; 
men of as high character as any in this House. 

" Mr. Blaine. I take issue upon that. There is not one who 
can substantiate it — not one. As for measures of retahation, 
although goaded by this terrific treatment of our friends imprisoned 
by Mr. Davis, the Congress of the United States specifically refused 
to pass a resolution of retaliation, as contrary to modern civilization 
and the first precepts of Christianity. And there was no retaliation 
attempted or justified. It was refused ; and Mr. Davis knew it was 
refused just as well as I knew it or any other man, because what 
took place in Washington or what took place in Richmond was 
known on either side of the line within a day or two thereafter." 

Now we propose to meet this issue — and if we do not show by 
witnesses, of the most unimpeachable character, that Confederate 
prisoners ivere "cruelly treated" — that they were deprived of the 
same rations that the Union soldiers had — the same food and the 
same clothing" — if we do not show that the Federal authorities 
were themselves guilty of the crimes they charged against us, then 
we are willing to stand before the bar of history convicted of 
inability to judge of the weight of evidence. 

And here again our work of compilation is rendered difficult 
only by the mass of material at hand. We have enough to make 
several large volumes — we can only cull here and there a statement, 

Mr. Henry Clay Dean, of Iowa, who says in his introduction, 
" I am a Democrat ; a devoted friend of the Constitution of the United 
States; a sincere lover of the Government and the Union of the States^^ — 
pubhshed in 1868 a book of 512 pages, entitled " Crimes of the 
Civil War," which we respectfully commend to the perusal of those 
who believe that the Federal Government conducted the war on 
the principles of "modern civilization and the precepts of Chris- 
tianity." 

We will extract only one chapter (pp. 120-141), and will simply 
preface it with the remark, that though some of the language used 
is severer than our taste would approve, the narrative bears the 
impress of truth on its face, and can be abundantly substantiated 
by other testimony : 

NARRATIVE OF HENRY CLAY DEAN. 

In the town of Palmyra, INIissouri, John McNeil had his head- 
quarters as colonel of a Missouri regiment and commander of the 
post. 

An officious person who had acted as a spy and common niformer, 
named Andrew Allsman, who was engaged in the detestable business 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 227 

of havino; his neighbors arrested upon charges of disloyalty, and 
eecuring the scoutings and ravages from every house that was not 
Bummarily burned to the earth. This had so long been his vocation 
that he was universally loathed by people of every shade of opinion, 
and soon brought upon himself the fate common to all such persons 
in every country, where the spirit of self-defence is an element of 
human nature. In his search for victims for the prison which was 
kept at Palmyra, this man was missed; nobody knew when, or 
where, or how ; whether drowned in the river, absconding from the 
arm}',, or killed by Federal soldiers or concealed Confederates. 

His failure to return was made the pretext for a series of the 
most horrible crimes ever recorded in any country, civilized or 
barbarous. 

John McNeil is a Nova Scotian by birth, the descendant of the 
expelled tories of the American Revolution, who took sides against 
the colonists in the rebellion against Great Britain. He is by trade 
a hatter, who made some money in the Mexican war. He had 
lived in Saint Louis for many years, simply distinguished for his 
activity in grog-shop" politics. He was soon in the market on the 
outbreak of the war, and received a colonel's commission. Without 
courage, military knowledge, or experience, he entered the army for 
the purpose of murder and robbery. 

As the tool of McNeil, W. H. Strachan acted in the capacity of 
provost marshal general, whose enormities exceed anything in the 
wicked annals of human depravity. . 

At the instigation of McNeil, the provost marshal went to the 
prison, filled with quiet, inoffensive farmers, and selected -ten men 
of age and respectability ; among the rest an old Judge of Knox 
county, all of whom had helpless families at home, in destitution 
and unprotected. 

These names, which should be remembered as among the victims 
of the reign of the Monster of the Christian era, were as follows: 

William Baker, Thomas Huston, Morgan Bixler, John Y. Mc- 
Pheeters of Lewis, Herbert Hudson, John M. Wade, Marion Lavi 
of Ralls, Captain Thomas A. Snyder of Monroe, Eleazer Lake of 
Scotland, and Hiram Smith of Knox county, were sentenced to be 
shot without trial or any of the forms of military law, by a military 
commander wdiose grade could not have given ratification to a 
court-martial, had one been held; had the parties been charged 
with crime,' which they were not. 

Mr. Humphreys, also in prison, was to have been shot instead of 
one of those named above, but which one the author has not the 
means of knowing. The change in the persons transpired in this 
way: 

Early on the morning of the execution, Mrs. Mary Humphreys 
came to see her husband before his death, to intercede for his re- 
lease. She first went to see McNeil, who frowned, stormed, and 
let loose a volley of such horrible oaths at her for daring to plead 
for her husband's life that she fled away through fear, and when 



228 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

she closed the door, the unnameable fiend cursed her with blasphe- 
mous assurances that her husband should be dispatched to hell at 
one o'clock. The poor afirighted woman, with bleeding heart, 
hastened to the provost marshal's office, and quite fainted away as 
she besought him to intercede with McNeil for the preservation of 
her husband's life. With a savage, taunting grin, Strachan said 
" that may be done, madam, by getting me three hundred dollars." 
This she did through the kindness of two gentlemen, who advanced 
the money at once. 

She returned with the money and paid it to Strachan. Mrs. 
Humphreys had her little daughter by her side, when she sank into 
her seat with exhaustion. Scarcely had she taken her place, until 
Strachan told her that she had still to do something else to secure 
her husband's release. At this moment he thrust the little girl out 
of the door and threatened the fainting woman with the execution 
of her husband. She fell as a lifeless corpse to the floor. After he 
had filled his pockets with money and satiated his lust, the provost 
marshal released poor Hum2:»hreys. Another innocent victim was 
taken in his place to cover up the hideous crime. The newspapers 
were commanded to publish the falsehood that some one had vol- 
unteered to die in his stead. The additional murdered man was a 
sacrifice to the venality, murder and rape of the provost marshal. 
The victim was an unobtrusive young man, caught up and dragged 
off as a wild beast to the slaughter, without any further notice than 
was necessary to prepare to walk from the jail to the scene of 
murder. 

The other eleven were notified of their contemplated murder 
some eighteen hours before the appointed moment of the tragedy. 
Rev. James S. Green, of the city of Palmyra, remained with them 
through the night. 

Between eleven and twelve o'clock the next day, three Govern- 
ment wagons drove to the jail with ten rough boxes, upon which 
the ten martyrs to brutal demonism were seated. 

This appalling spectacle was made more frightful by the rough 
jeering of the mercenaries who guarded the victims to the place of 
butchery. The jolting wagons were driven through street after 
street, which was abandoned by every human being; women faint- 
ing at the awful spectacle, clasping their children more closely to 
their bosoms, as the murderers, with blood pictured in their coun- 
tenances, were screaming in hoarse tones the word of command. 

The company of stranger adventurers, mercenaries, and the vilest 
resident population, formed a circle at the scene, in imitation of the 
Roman slaughter in the time of Nero, Caligula and Commodus, to 
feast their sensual eyes on blood and amuse themselves with the 
piteous shrieks of the dying men. This infernal saturnalia com- 
menced with music. Everything was done which might harrow 
the feelings and torture the soul. The rough coffins were placed 
before them in such manner as to excite horror; the grave ojiened 
its yawning mouth to terrify them ; but they stood unmoved amid 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 229 

the frenzied, murderous mob. Captain Snyder was dressed in 
beautiful black, with white vest; magnificent head covered with 
rich wavy locks that fell around his broad shoulders like the mane 
of a lion. When the mercenaries were preparing to consummate 
this horrible crime, they at last seemed conscious of the character 
and the magnitude of this awful work, grew pale and trembled: 
even the brutal Strachan seemed alarmed at his own nameless and 
compounded crimes of lust, avarice and murder. Rev. Mr. Rhodes, 
a meek and unobtrusive minister of the Baptist Church, prayed 
with the d3nng men, and Strachan reached out his bloody hands to 
bid them adieu. They generously forgave their murderers. 

To lengthen out the cruel tragedy, the guns were fired at different 
times that death might be dealt out in broken periods. Two of 
the men were killed outright. Captain Snyder sprang to/his feet, 
faced the soldiers, pierced their cowardly faces with his unbandaged 
eagle eye, and fell forward to rise no more. 

The other seven were wounded, mangled and butchered in detail, 
with pistols; whilst the ear was rent with their piteous groans, pray- 
ing to find refuge in death. The whole butchery occupied some 
fifteen minutes. 

The country was appalled at the recital of these crimes and in- 
credulous of the facts. 

The newspapers were suppressed to jjrevent their publication, 
and the exposure of the perpetrators. The punishment of the 
criminals was demanded by public justice and expected by every- 
body except the criminals, who well understood the cruelty [and 
corruption of the Executive Department. 

To cover up these crimes by a judicial farce, nearly two years 
afterwards charges were preferred against Strachan; he was con- 
victed upon the foregoing state of facts, and sentence passed upon 
him. The sentence was remitted and Strachan promoted. 

For this crime McNeil was promoted by Lincoln to Brigadier- 
General and kept in office. In all of the history of European wars, 
Asiatic butcheries, Indian cruelties, and negro atrocities, there can 
be found no parallel instance in which the murder of men without 
any of the forms of trial, was accompanied with the rape of the 
wives of those designated by the lottery of death as the price of the 
husband's liberty. There was nothing left undone to make the 
whole scene cruel, loathsome, and revolting. 

This outrage unpunished, gave license for crime, cruelty, outrage 
and disorder everywhere. It would require the pen of every writer, 
the paper of every manufacturer, for a year, to recount them; the 
human imagination sickens in contemplation of them. 

In the next year after the McNeil butchery, in the neighboring 
city of Hannibal, occurred a similar crime, equally monstrous in 
its details. 

J. T. K. Heyward commanded a body of enrolled brigands in 
Marion county, known as the railroad brigade, who foraged uj)on 
the people and plundered the country. 



230 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

Hugh B. Bloom, a drunken soldier of the Federal army, returning 
to his regiment, muttered some offensive words in the presence of 
Heyward's men. Bloom was immediately dragged from the steam- 
boat upon which he was traveling and carried before Heyward. 

Heyward improvised a military court, tried the drunken man, 
and condemned him to immediate death. 

Whilst the poor wretch was unconscious of his condition, dis- 
qutilified for self-defence, and unable to understand the fearful 
nature of his peril, he was hurried off to the most public place on 
the river side ; the people of the town, trembling with fear, were 
compelled to witness the horrid scene. 

The worst was yet to come. Old and respectable citizens, because 
known for their quiet demeanor and hatred of violence, were dragged 
down tb witness the horrid spectacle. Twelve of these gentlemen 
were presented with muskets, and commanded to fire at the trem- 
bling inebriate sitting upon his cofhn. 

To enforce this fiendish order to make private gentlemen commit 
public murder, Heyward's brigands were placed immediately behind 
the squad of private citizens and commanded to fire upon the first 
who hesitated to fire at Bloom. As the shuddering man sank down 
beneath the terrible volley of musketry, Heyward turned upon the 
people and warned them of their impending fate in the murder of 
this man. 

The sj^ectacle was revolting in itself. It was terrible in view of 
the fact, that these militia were unauthorized by law for any such 
purpose; that the execution was without the shadow of law, that 
the victim was a Union soldier, who had committed no offence; 
that the men who were forced to do this horrid work were unwilling 
to commit the crime, and protested against being made the instru- 
ments of such bloody horror. But how ineffably shocking that the 
perpetrator, Heyward, should be a member of a Christian church, 
and assume the office of Sabbath-school teacher; that little children 
should look upon the horrible visage of the murderous wretch as 
their instructor. 

This Heyward, secluded from the inquiring world, overawing 
and corrupting the press of his own neighborhood, was the most 
Satanic of all the local tyrants of Missouri. 

At one time he gathered all of the old and respectable citizens of 
Hannibal, including such highly cultivated gentlemen of spotless 
escutcheon as Hon. A. W. Lamb, into a dilapidated, falling house, 
and placed powder under it to blow it to atoms, in case Hannibal 
should be visited by rebels. 

In Monroe county, two farmers were arrested by the provost 
marshal's guard, taken a short distance from home, shot down and 
thrown into the field with the swine. 

On the next day the recognized fragments of the bodies were 
gathered up by the neighbors and carried to their respective houses, 
and prepared for interment. 

The citizens were so respectable, the murder so brutal, the outrage 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 231 

so revolting, that people gathered from a long distance around to 
bury in decency the remains of those who had been so shockingly 
destroyed. 

When the funeral procession had been formed, the provost mar- 
shal sent his guard to disperse them; declaring that no person 
opposed to the war should have public burial. 

The heart-broken families had to go unattended to the grave of 
their respective dead; each one dreading the danger that beset the 
highway upon their return home-; and feeling even more in danger 
from marauders in the secret chambers of their own domicil. 

During this drunken reign of horrors, innocent people were shot 
down upon their door sills, called into their gardens upon pretended 
business, butchered and left lying, that tlieir families might not 
know their whereabouts uutil their bodies were decomposed. 
Women were ravished, houses burned, plantations laid waste. 

Judge Richardson was shot whilst in the courthouse in which 
he presided, in Scotland county. Rev. Wm. Headlee, a minister of 
the gospel, was shot upon the highway; and all of these murderers, 
robbers and incendiaries, are yet a large. 

Dr. Glasscock, a physician, was dragged from his own house by 
soldiers, under pretence of taking him to court as a witness, against 
the earnest prayers of his children and slaves, was shot, mangled, 
disfigured and mutilated, then brought to his own yard and thrown 
down like a dead animal. 

To prevent punishment by law, these criminals repealed the laws 
against their crimes; and provided in the constitution that crime 
should go unpunished if committed by themselves. 

To make themselves secure in their crime and to give immunity 
from punishment, they disfranchised the masses of the people; and 
in the city of Saint Louis the criminal vote elected the criminal 
McNeil as the sheriff of the county of Saint Louis — the tool of the 
weakest and most malignant tyrants. 

milroy's order. 
Saint George, Tucker Co., Va., November 28th, 1862. 
Mr. Adam Harper : 

Sir — In consequence of certain robberies which have been com- 
mitted on Union citizens of this county by bands of guerrillas, you 
are hereby assessed to the amount ($285.00) two hundred and 
eighty-five dollars, to make good their losses ; and upon your failure 
to comply Avith the above assessment by the 8th day of December, 
the following order has been issued to me by Brigadier-General 
K. H. Milroy: 

You are to burn their houses, seize all their property and shoot 
them. You will be sure that you strictly carry out this order. 

You will inform the inhabitants for ten or fifteen miles around 
your camp, on all the roads approaching the town upon which the 
enemy may approach, that they must dash in and give you notice, 



232 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

and upon any one failing to do so, you will burn their houses and 
shoot the men. 

By order Brigadier-General R. H. Milroy, 

H, Kellog, Captain Commanding Post. 

Mr. Harper was an old gentlemen, over 82 years of age, a cripple, 
and can neither read nor write the English language, though a 
good German scholar. This gentlemen was one of twelve children, 
had served in the war of 1812, was the son of a Revolutionary 
soldier who bore his musket during the whole war, inherited a 
woodland tract, and built up a substantial home in the midst of 
Western Virginia. 

His was only one of a class which swept over West Virginia, and 
left the beautiful valleys of Tygart and the Potomac rivers in ashes 
and desolation. 

It is to pay for crimes like these, and keep in employment the 
men who committed them, that created the debt now weighing the 
people down. It was to pay such monsters, with their tools, that 
money was refunded by the General Government to the State of 
Missouri and West Virginia, and the taxes saddled upon the people 
of the country. 

The following letter gives its own explanation : 

Macon, Georgia, October 7, 18G7. 
Henry Clay Dean, Monnt Pleasant, Iowa : 

Dear Sir — I have read your late communication addressed to 
"The prisoners of war, and victims of arbitrary arrests in the 
United States of America." 

You allege that "the Congress of the United States refused to 
extend the investigation contemplated by a resolution, adopted by 
that body on the 10th of July, 1867, appointing certain parties to 
investigate the treatment of prisoners of war and Union citizens 
held by the Confederate authorities during the rebellion, to the 
prisoners of war, victims of 'arbitrary power and military usurpa- 
tion by the authority of the Federal Administration.'" 

Appreciating your object "to put the truth upon the record," and 
concurring in your patriotic suggestion that "it is the duty of every 
American to look to the honor of his country and the preservation 
of the truth of history," I have felt constrained to respond to the 
call made in your circular, so far as to acquaint the public, through 
you, with the following precise, simple, and unexaggerated state- 
ment of facts: 

When the Capitol of the Confederate States was evacuated, the 
specie belonging to the Richmond banks was removed, with the 
archives of the Government, to Washington, Georgia. Early after 
the close of the war, a wagon train conveying this specie from 
Washington to Abbeville, South Carolina, was attacked and robbed 
of an amount approximating to $100,000, by a body of disbanded 
cavalry of the Confederate army. 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 233 

A few weeks subsequent to this event, Brigadier-General Edward 
A. Wild, with an escort consisting of twelve negro soldiers, under 
the command of Lieutenant Seaton, of Captain Alfred Cooley's 
company (156th Regiment of New York Volunteers), repaired to 
the scene of the robbery in the vicinity of Danburg, Wilkes county, 
Georgia. By the order of General Wild, and in his presence, A. D. 
Chenault, a Methodist minister, weighing 275 pounds, his brother, 
John N. Chenault, of moderate size, and a son of the latter, only 
15 years of age, but weighing 230 pounds, were arrested and taken 
to an adjacent wood, where the money abstracted from the train, 
or a portion of it, was supposed to be concealed. Failing to pro- 
duce the money upon the order of General Wild, these three citizens, 
who enjoy the esteem and confidence of all who know them, were 
suspended by their thumbs, with the view of extorting confessions as 
to the place of its concealment. Mr. John N. Chenault was twice 
subjected to this torture, and on one occasion until he fainted, and 
was then cut down. Rev. A. D. Chenault was also hung up twice 
by his thumbs, and until General Wild was induced only by his 
groans and cries to release him from his agony. The youth, A. F. 
Chenault, was hung up once, and until he exhibited evident signs 
of fainting, Avhen he was cut down. Wliilst this scene was being 
enacted. General Wild and his subaltern were both present, direct- 
ing the whole operations. These citizens, with the exception of 
John N. Chenault, who was unable to be removed, were then sent 
under guard to Washington, fifteen miles distant. 

By order of General Wild, a daughter of John N. Chenault, about 
the age of seventeen years, universally beloved in her neighborhood, 
and distinguished for her piety, was searched, by being stripped, in 
the presence of the Lieutenant, who was charged with the execution 
of the order. When her garments, piece by piece, were taken from 
her and the very last one upon her was reached, in the instincts of 
her native modesty, she threw herself upon a bed and sought to 
conceal her person with its covering, she was ordered to stand out 
upon the floor until stripped to perfect nakedness. 

By order of General IHM, the wife of John N. Chenault was 
arrested and taken under guard to Washington, where she was in- 
carcerated for several days, fed on bread and water, in one of the 
petit jury rooms of the courthouse, and after she had been forced 
to leave at her home her nursing infant, but nine months old, where 
it continued to remain until its mother was released. 

During the period of her imprisonment, General Wild was waited 
upon at his hotel by three citizens of the county, to wit: Francis 
G. Wingfield, Richard T. Walton, and your correspondent, who 
importuned this ofiicer to permit one of the party to take Mrs. 
Chenault to his residence in the village, each pledging his neck, and 
all tendering bond, with security in any amount which he would 
be pleased to nominate, for her appearance at any time and place 
in obedience to his order. This request General Wild promptly and 
emphatically refused, but graciously allowed her friends to supply 
her with suitable food at the place of her confinement. 



234 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

The tortures and indignities thus inflicted upon this family, who I 
are respected and esteemed by all who know them, failed to discover j 
any evidence whatever of their complicity in the robbery, or any ;i 
knowledge of the concealment of any of its fruits. ' 

The facts thus detailed were reported in substance to Major-Gen- \ 
eral James B. Steadman, then on duty at Augusta, Georgia, who j 
immediately ordered his Inspector-General (whose name is not re-j! 
membered) to Washington, with instructions to collect the evidence 
as to the truth of the representations made to him. After spending i 
several days at Washington and its vicinity, in the examination of j 
witnesses, this officer observed that the facts which he had elicited i 
fully corroborated the statements which had been forwarded to 
General Steadman. 

General Wild was removed by the order of General Steadman, 
and ordered to Washington city. Charges were also preferred 
against him, but the public is not advised that even as^niuch as a ;: 
reprimand was ever administered to him. 

The foregoing statement of f;icts will be avouched by many 
citizens of Washington, and of Wilkes and Lincoln counties. You 
are respectfully referred to James M. Dyson, Gabriel Toombs, Green 
P. Cozart, Hon. Garnett Andrews, Dr. J. J. Robertson, Dr. James 
H. Lane, Dr. J. B. Ficklin, Richard T. Walton, Dr. John Haynes 
Walton and David G. Cotting, the present editor of the Rejyubllcan, 
at Augusta. 

Prompted by no spirit of personal malevolence, but in obedience 
alone to the instinct of a virtuous patriotism, I have thus "a round 
unvarnished tale delivered" of some of the actings and doings of 
this officer, studiously refraining from any denunciation, and sup- 
pressing every suggestion the least calculated to excite the prejudices 
or inflame the passions of the public. 
I am, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, John B. Weems. 

An attempt to record the crimes committed during the civil war 
would fill volumes and excite horror. 

We can only indicate the crimes rather than give detail of their 
circumstances. 

One gentleman from Vicksburg writes in justly indignant language 
of the rape and robbery of his wife; that he has sought redress in 
vain of the military authorities. Another of the violation of two 
ladies by beastly mercenaries, until one dies, and the other lives a ' 
raving maniac. 

A lady writes from Lil^erty, Missouri, that her father, Mr. Payne, 
a minister of Christ, was murdered by the military and left out 
from his dwelling for several days, until found by some neighbors 
in a mutilated condition. 

A gentleman writes that a wretch named Harding boasts that he 
had beaten out the brains of a wounded Confederate prisoner at 
the battle of Drainesville. 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 235 

The affidavit of Thomas E. Gilkerson states that negro soldiers 
liwere promoted to corporals for shooting white prisoners at Point 
t Lookout, where he was a prisoner. 

That be was transferred to Elmira, New York, where prisoners 
were starved into skeletons; were reduced to the necessity of rob- 
bing the night-stool of the meats which, being spoiled, could not 
be eaten by the sick, was thrown into the bucket of excrements, 
taken out and washed to satisfy their distressing hunger. 

That for inquiring of Lieutenant Whitney, of Rochester, New 
York, for some clothes which the deponent believed were sent to 
him in a box, the deponent was confined three days in a dungeon 
land fed on bread and water. 

I! That two men in ward twenty -two were starved until they eat a 
Jkiog, for which offence they were severely punished. 
ij That negroes were placed on guard. That while on guard, a 
i'negro called a prisoner over the dead line, which the prisoner did 
(not recognize as such, -and the negro shot him dead, and went 
lunpunished. 

i That shooting prisoners without cause or provocation, was of 
jtfrequent occurrence by. the negro guards. 

f This affidavit was taken before Daniel Jackson, Justice of the 
I Peace. 

j Joseph Hetterphran, from Fayetteville, Georgia, writes that he 
was captured on the 27th of January, 1864, in East Tennessee; 
Sisearched and robbed with his companions of everything. They 
I were hurried by forced marches to Knoxville, nearly frozen and 
i starved ; were then confined in the penitentiary, where the treat- 
ment all the time grew worse ; were finally taken to Rock Island, 
where he had no blanket, was stinted in fuel, food and raiment. 
In this horrible place the prisoners ate dogs and rats. The poor 
I'fellows tried to get the crumbs that fell from the bread wagons; a 
great many died of diseases induced by starvation: others starved 
outright. In the meantime the sutler would sell provisions to the 
rich Confederates, whilst the poor were driven to starvation. This 
prison was guarded by negroes for a considerable time. The negroes 
;'frequently shot the prisoners down through wantonness, just as 
they did at Elmira. The officer who led negroes to kill the people 
jof his own race, can sink to no lower depth of degradation. 
I Henry J. Moses writes from Woodbine, Texas, that he was taken 
I prisoner at Gaines' Farm, near Richmond, Virginia, and confined 
at Point Lookout during the month of May, 1864, and then taken 
to Fort Delaware, Avhere he remained until the 24th of August. 
When General Foster demanded the removal of six hundred of 
the prisoners, they were placed on board the steamer Crescent, and 
kept in the hold seventeen days, suffocating with heat, drinking 
bilge water, and eating salt pork and crackers in very stinted allow- 
ances. The hatchway was frequently closed, and all of the horrors 
of the African slave trade revived in their persons and treatment. 
After enduring this terrible form of torture, they were placed on 



236 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

Morris' Island, under the fire of their own guns for forty-three days,' 
guarded by negroes. The dead line rope was stretched as a pre-' 
text for shooting those who should even by accident touch it. 
Taunts, gibes, jeers, and insults of every kind were heaped upon 
the prisoners. Paul H. Earle, of Alabama, for no offence whatever, 
was shot at; another time the tent was fired into, and two sleeping' 
soldiers badly wounded, by order of the lieutenant. As it always 
has been and ever will be, the negroes behaved much better than 
the v/hite fiends who commanded them. How could it be other- 
wise? A man raised in Christian communities who would let loose 
barbarians to bin-n up and destroy the habitations of women and \ 
children of his own race, has not one conceivable iota of space 
in which to sink deeper in degradation. 

After all of the acts of cruelty and ingenuity to starve these poor 
fellows, they were finally confined in Fort Pulaski, fed upon a pint 
of musty kiln-dried corn, with a rotten pickle eacli day. On this 
diet they were kept for forty-four days, when the scurvy broke out 
and killed over two hundred of the number. After such loathsome 
sufi'ering as makes human nature shudder, incarcerated in damp 
cells without blankets, some with no coats, Mr. Moses adds that 
"nothing but the preserving hand of God kept us through those 
trying hours." How much greater was the crime of a Christian 
people, that the ministry in the peaceful regions were inflaming 
this horrible work, instead of alleviating the suflerings of the peo- 
ple. Added to all of the other atrocious crimes and cruelties, the 
insane were in like manner tortured. An old gentleman named 
Fitzgerald, infirm and insane, who ate opium to alleviate his pain, 
was denied his medicine for which he begged, until death kindly 
came to open the prison doors and release him from his agony. 
The prisoners say that Foster instigated these cruelties. Tlie names 
and references of the parties clothe the whole statement with an 
unmistakable semblance of truth. The corroboration is con- 
clusive. 

John L. Waring, of Brandywine, Prince George's count}^, Mary- 
land, states that he was a prisoner of war for more than two years; 
that a private soldier killed in his presence an inofiTensive prisoner 
in Carroll prison, who sat by the window, and was j^romoted from 
the ranks to corporal for the crime. 

Forney's Chronicle, in noticing the death, and apologizing for the 
crime, falsely stated that young Hardcastle, the prisoner killed, was 
cursing the guard. 

The room-mate of Hardcastle, who, like Hardcastle, had been 
arrested upon no charges whatever, soon after this murder was 
released, but died shortly after in consequence of the cruel prison 
treatment. 

Mr. Waring was removed from Carroll prison to Point Lookout, 
where the prisoners were detailed to load and unload vessels; were 
robbed by negroes of the trinkets made in prison; some were shot 
by negroes, carpet sacks were robbed of clothing, and hospital 



Treatment of Pi'isoners During the War. 237 

jstewards and sanitary commissions ate the provisions sent to pris- 
ioners and soldiers, or extorted exorbitant prices from the person 
'to whom they had been sent. 

! The negroes offered every manner of indignity to the prisoners. 
'Among other crimes they shot a dying man on his attempt to re- 
jilieve nature. Tlie conduct of tlie negroes at Point Lookout was 
lincited by their white officers until it was frightful. 
j Henry H. Knight writes from Gary, Wake county, North Carqlina, 
th^i he was captured at Gettysburg, taken to Fort Delaware, and 
Buflfiered all that cold and mud could inflict ujDon their comfort and 
pon;\'enience. He was driven from poorly warmed stoves by Fed- 
;^r?;l officers. The soldiers were beaten, starved and frozen to death, 
jBeven were frozen one morning ; others of them went to the hos- 
.pital and died. At other times they were driven through the water, 
■and were alternately robbed, frozen, tortured and starved. The 
igreat amount sent them by relatives was appropriated by the guards 
,|fbr their own use; and if they made complaint, the prisoners were 
'shot, and the improbable story told that they had run guard, and 
'(that would be the last of their crime heard in the fort against the 
jiguards. 

j Some of these poor fellows were whole days without fire, when 
ifthe snow was a. foot deep, or the water covering the ground. The 
'author saw hundreds of these prisoners in the city of Pittsburg in 
tthe early summer of 1865, on their way to the Southwest, in the 
Imost loathsome condition. Their pitiable suffering and mournful 
stories were sickening, and would crimson the cheek with unuttera- 
']ble shame and horror. No words can portray the picture that he 
jsaw with his own eyes. Swollen gums, teeth dropping from the 
ijaws, eyes bursting with scurvy, limbs paralyzed, hair falling off 
of the heads, frozen hands and feet. These were those that escaped. 
The dead concealed the crimes of the murderers in the grave which 
was closed upon them, by hundreds. 

W. C. Osborn, of Opelika, Alabama, states that he was captured 
on the 4th of July, 1863, and confined in Fort Delaware ; that the 
rations were three crackers twice a day; most of the time no meat 
at all, but occasionally a very small piece of salt beef or pork, 
IThat he drank water within fifteen feet of the excrement of the 
fort, and could get no other. When cold weather returned, the 
beds of each man were searched, and only one blanket left him. 
The barracks were inferior, and men froze to death in the terrible 
winter of 1863-4. Prisoners were shot for the most trivial offences. 
One man's brains were blown out and scattered on the walls, where 
the}'' remained for many days, for no offence other than looking 
.over the bounds, unconsciously. For other offences, men were 
'tied up by the thumbs just so that their toes might touch the 
ground, for three hours at a time, until they would turn black in 
the face. Others were placed astride of joists, and forced to remain 
in that attitude for hours at a time, the coldest weather. These 
crimes against the persons of the prisoners, and their starvation, 



238 Southern Historical Society Papers. I 

were carefully concealed from the public eye, and the Philadelphia | 
papers made every effort to deceive the public in regard to these ' 
matters.. On inspection days, when the people were admitted to 
the grounds, the prisoners got three times as much as upon other 
days. This was done to delude the people of the country, who 
never had any sympathy with these horrible crimes. 

Presley N. Morris, of Henry county, Georgia, was captured by \ 
"Wilder's brigade, was divested of ever3'thing, marched five days on ' 
one Aieal each day, carried through filthy cars to Camp Morton, 
Indiana, on the 19th of October, 1863, where he was imprisoned .. 
in an old horse stable on the Fair Ground, without blanket, thinly 
clad, and without fire, until January, 1864, when he received one 
blanket; his body covered with rags and vermin, when the snow 
was from six to ten inches deep. Two stoves were all that was 
used to warm three hundred men, and then wood for half the time 
only was allowed. The prisoners were compelled to remain out 
in the cold in this condition from nine o'clock, A. M., to four o'clock, 
P. M., no difference what was the condition of the weather. In 
October, 1864, the prisoners were drawn up in line, stripped of all I 
their bedding, except one blanket, and robbed of all money ; and 
Mr. Morris was robbed of three hundred dollars, with other val- 
uables, none of which were ever returned ; was beaten over the 
head because a piece of money was found near his feet, by one 
Fifer. Money sent him was j^urloined by the officers through 
whose hands it came. 

Another says he belonged to Grigsby's regiment; was sent to 
Camp Morton ; and corroborates the statement of Mr. Morris in 
regard to Camp Morton. He was soon, after his capture, sent to 
Camp Douglas near Chicago. In this place the prisoners were shot 
at by sharpshooters and Indians ; sometimes were kept in close 
confinement for forty-eight hours. Sometimes a half dozen pris- 
oners were placed upon a rude machine called "Morgan's horse," ^ 
which was very sharp, and compelled to sit more than two hours 
at a time, with weights to their legs. Others were tied up by their 
thumbs. Tliey were searched once every week. The prisoners 
were whipped with leather straps and sticks, after the manner of 
whipping brutes. Upon one occasion, when a guard discovered a 
beef bone thrown from the window of number six, he made all of 
the prisoners form in line and touch tlie ground with the forefinger 
without bending the knee. All who could not do tliis were beaten. 
A young man was shot for picking up snow to quench his thirst, 
when the hydrant had been closed for several days. New and 
•cruel punishments were inflicted, as whim, passion, or pure ma- 
lignity indicated. 

AVm. Howard, a Baptist minister, sixty years of age, of Graves 
county, Kentucky, was taken, with his daughters, and beaten over 
the head with a sabre, until the sabre was broken; and he was 
otherwise cruelly treated. 

Lucius T. Harding writes that on the 14th of October the large 



Ty^eatment of Prisoners During the War. 239 

steamer General Foster came to his place. The sailors entered the 
house, kicked his sick children, and robbed him of ever3'thing. 
That white officers led negro raids into Westmoreland and Rich- 
mond counties. Women were violated wherever they were caught 
by the negroes with the utmost impunity. 

N. D. Hall, of Larkinville, Alabama, a soldier of Western Vir- 
ginia, during Hunter's, Crook's and Averill's horrible desolation of 
Virginia, says that the rebels found a negro man and child, both 
dead, and a negro woman stripped naked, whose bleeding person 
had been outraged by Averill's men. 

That Averill's men offered to give to Dr. Patton's wife, in Green- 
brier county. West Virginia, fifteen negro children which they had 
stolen, and which she refused to take from them. To rid themselves 
of the burden, and the children from suffering, they were thrown 
into Greenbrier river. 

In the valley below Staunton, Crook's men tied an old gentle- 
man, and violated his only daughter in his presence, until she 
fainted. 

In Bedford county he saw the corpse of one, and the other sister 
a raving maniac, from violation of their persons. Desolation was 
left in the trail of these men. 

An aged and respectable minister was hanged in Middletown, 
Virginia, by military order, for shooting a soldier in the attempt 
to violate his daughter in his own house in Greenbrier county. 

David Nelson, of Jackson, was shot because his son was in the 
Confederate army. 

Another person named Peters, a mere boy, was shot for having a 
pistol hidden. 

Garland A. Snead, of Augusta, Georgia, said he was taken pris- 
oner at Fisher's Hill, Virginia, September, 1864; sent to Point 
Lookout, which was in the care of one Brady, who had been an 
officer of negro cavalry. 

He was starved for five days, had chronic diarrhoea ; was forced 
to use bad water, the good water being refused them. Men died 
frequently of sheer neglect. He was sent off to make room for 
other prisoners, because he was believed to be in a dying condition; 
as it was manifestly the purpose to poison all that could be de- 
stroyed by deleterious food and water, or by neglect of their 
wants. 

He said that negroes fired into their beds at night; and one 
was promoted for killing a prisoner, from the ranks to sergeant. 

Claiborne Snead, of Augusta, Georgia, writes from Johnson's Is- 
land, that prisoners were frequently shot without an excuse; that 
prisoners having the small-pox were brought to Johnson's Island 
on purpose to inoculate the rest of the prisoners, and that many 
died of that disease; a crime for which civilized government visits 
the most terrible penalties. Yet this disease, thus planted, was 
kept there until it had spent its force. 

That the rations were bad, and prisoners went to bed suffering 
the pangs of hunger. 



240 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

That although Lake Erie was not one hundred j'ards distant, yet 
these prisoners were forced to drink from three holes dug in the 
prison bounds, surrounded by twenty-six sinks, the filth of which 
oozed into the water. This treatment, in no wise better than the 
inoculation of small-pox, and even more loathsome than that 
disease, caused many prisoners to contract chronic diarrhoea in a 
countr}^ where that disease is not common. 

It is impossible for human language to portray the horrible crim- 
inality of the wicked men who inflicted these tortures upon human 
beings, and at the same time caused the detention of Northern 
prisoners in loathsome Southern prisons, through a fiendish love 
of suffering; and the unwillingness to have exchanges, paroles, 
and releases granted to the unfortunate, innocent men of both 
armies, unnaturally led to mutual destruction. What apology 
can the infidel ministry of the country offer for such crimes? 
and upon their head must the curse ever rest who sustained these 
thieves. 

J. C. Moore, son of Colonel David Moore, of the Federal army, 
writes that he was taken prisoner at Helena, Arkansas, July 4, 
1863, with 1,750 prisoners. The poor fellows, half starved, were 
met at Saint Louis by a supply of apples, cakes, tobacco and 
money. The officer having them in charge threatened the boys 
with imprisonment, who extended these friendships to these un- 
fortunate men. That he was taken to the Alton prison, where 
men were kept with ball and chain at work in the street, for mere 
peccadilloes, where the keepers shot their victims and stabbed them, 
with all of the indignities usual in the prisons everywhere, which 
seemed under control of no military, but rather governed by the 
instigation of the devil. 

L. P. Hall and Wm. Perry, of Chico Butte, California, were arrested ; 
had their press destroyed; were handcuffed together in Jackson, 
Amada county, with ball and chain attached to their legs, and 
driven to labor on the Public Works at Alcatross. Fifty-two others 
were treated in like manner. Hall and Perry were finally discharged 
without charges or trial. In the persons of these gentlemen, were 
violated all the rights of freedom of person, of the press, of speech, 
and finally they were starved, and released after enduring the most 
offensive insults at the hands of a cowardly enemy. This crime 
transpired in California, where war had not gone, and their im- 
prisonment was without pretence. 

T. Walton Mason, of Adairville, Logan county, Kentucky, says 
that he Avas surrendered by General Jno. INIorgan, in Ohio, July 
26th, 1863, and imprisoned at Camp Chase, tlien removed to Camp 
Douglas, where all of the horrors of that place were revived. In 
this camp Choctaw Indians were employed as guards. When 
money was given to the guards to buy provisions, they would 
pocket the money. The Indians shamed the whites for this breach 
of faith and petty theft. In November, 1863, seven escaped pris- 
oners were returned, and subjected to the most cruel torture. They 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 241 

were taken out in the presence of the garrison and tortured with 
the thumb-screw until they fainted with pain. 

In February, 1864, the cruelty became extreme; they beat pris- 
oners with clubs and a leather belt, with a United State buckle at 
the end of it. They shot prisoners without provocation. For 
spilling the least water on the floor, the prisoner was elevated on a 
four inch scantling fifteen feet high, and tortured for two or three 
hours. For any similar offence, when the perpetrator was not 
known, the whole regiment was marched out and kept in the cold 
all day, sometimes freezing their limbs in the effort. Because a 
sick man vornited on his floor, the whole of the prisoners, in the 
dead hour of a chilling cold night, were made to stand out in their 
night clothes, until frozen, and from which several died, whilst 
others lost their health, which they never recovered. 

Mr. Mason was driven by this night's cruelty into the hospital, 
where, among empyrics, he refused to take their medicines ; in turn 
his own physician was not allowed to see him. 

From twelve to thirty prisoners died every day, during the 
months of July, August, September and October, from brutal treat- 
ment. 

When James Wandle, a Virginia giant near seven feet high, died 
through neglect in the hospital, the ward-master could not lay him 
in the small coffin which was furnished, but his body in a most 
brutal manner. was stamped down into its narrow limits to prepare 
it for the grave. 

Such were the every day affairs of this loathsome place. 

Again, in the coldest winter night, the prisoners were aroused 
and driven out in the storm barefooted, in their night clothes, and 
made to sit down until the snow melted under them. 

Late in December, several hundred prisoners came from Hood's 
army, near Nashville, almost destitute of clothing ; coming from a 
warm climate, they were kept out all night in the cold, shivering 
and freezing. Upon the next morning, nearly one hundred were 
sent to the hospital. As a consequence, many of their limbs were 
frozen and required amputation, and death kindly came to the 
relief of all. 

J. Risque Hutter, late Lieutenant-Colonel Eleventh Regiment 
Virginia Infantry, writes that he was captured at Gettysburg, and 
was eighteen months in prison on Johnson's Island. 

During the tyranny of a fellow of the name of Hill, rations were 
reduced and stinted ; that prisoners were neglected in sickness ; 
straw and other necessaries were declared contraband. 

That suffering from thirst was common, right on "the shores of 
the lake-bound prison." 

That the rations were indifferent in quality and insufficient in 
quantity to satisfy hunger. Rats were eaten by hundreds of pris- 
oners, who regarded themselves fortunate to get them, such was the 
reduced condition of the prisoners. 

That Colonel Hutter's brother, an officer in the Confederate 
2 



242 Southern Historical Society Papers. 



n 



army, on duty in Danville, Virginia, went to Lieutenant Bingham 
and agreed to furnish him with all of the comforts of life, if he 
would have the necessaries furnished Colonel Hutter through his 
friends at home. Colonel Hutter had Lieutenant Bingham furnished 
with everything he desired, and when arrangements were made to 
furnish similar articles to Colonel Hutter, on Johnson's Island, Hill 
would not permit it. When the matter was referred to Washing- 
ton, the refusal was sustained. 

The above abbreviated statement has been made from ably 
written details of individual wrongs— ^each gentleman giving name, 
date, place and specific charges. The latter would make a large 
bound volume of itself, which want of space only apologizes for 
the abridgment. 

John M. Weiner, formerly Mayor of the city of Saint Louis, 
was arrested in that city and kept in prison without any charges 
against him whatever. After the cruel treatment common to Saint 
Louis prisons, he was transferred to Alton penitentiary, and from 
there made his escape, and was killed near Springfield, Missouri. 

Mrs. Weiner sent for her husband's body for burial in Bellafon- 
taine Cemetery. Whilst his wife and friends were preparing his body 
for burial, Samuel R. Curtis sent a squad of soldiers, who stole the 
corpse from his wife, and buried it in a secret place. 

Mrs. Beatty was arrested for begging the release of Mayor Wolf, 
who was sentenced to be shot in retaliation. Wolf was respited 
and then exchanged; but Mrs. Beatty was put in prison, mana- 
cled, shackled, and chained with a heavy ball until the iron cut 
through her tender limbs, and the flesh rotted beneath- the irons, 
until she was attacked with chills ; and in a lone cell, not permitted 
to see a human being, when her mind gave way under the terrible 
treatment. The surgeon protested against this vicious cruelty ; 
still it was continued, until the very sight of the poor creature was 
frightful. So she continued until Rosecrans was removed. Alter 
Rosecrans was broken down in the army, like Burnside, he tried to 
retrieve his lost fortunes by crueltj'', but failed. Neither the release 
of Strachan from the penalties of the court-martial for his partici- 
pation in the McNeil murders, and robber)^ and rape of Mrs. Mary 
Humphreys, nor his barbarity could save him from the contempt 
of the Radicals; After his brutalities in these cases, the Democrats 
loathed him, and he now lies hidden among the rubbish of the 
war, 'mid the remnants of abandoned barracks, rusty guns and 
broken wagons, to be heard of no more forever. Mrs. Beatty was 
tried by court-martial and acquitted, but will wear the marks of 
cruelty to the grave. 

One of the most horrible murders of the State of Missouri, was 
that committed by an old counterfeiter named Babcock, who shot 
Judge Wright and his three sons, after decoying them from their 
own door. The details are too horrible for human pen. 

This wretched criminal, Babcock, was elected to the legislature 
by disfranchising the people of his county by military force. 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 243 

This murderer is a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
and dispenses the gospel to the people. 

Through disgust, horror and shame, I cast my pen aside, and sit 
in amazement, that for crimes like these an angry God has not, by 
His breath, cursed the earth, and sent it as a floating pandemonium 
throughout the immensity of space, as a warning to other worlds, 
if other worlds there be so depraved, corrupted and lost to the 
charities of life and the mercies of God. 

Dr. Gideon S. Bailey, in wealth and character, is one of the finest 
citizens of the State of Iowa. He had attended Abraham Lincoln's 
reputed father in his last illness for many months, and had received 
not one cent in compensation. Yet Dr. Bailey was arrested, placed 
in the very same filthy place in which the author was imprisoned, 
and kept there for a number of days. 

The weather was exceeding sultry ; Dr. Bailey was in very feeble 
health when he was carried down to Saint Louis on the hurricane 
deck of a steamer." When in Saint Louis, he was placed in Gratiot 
street prison, where, he was subjected to every manner of filth, 
torture and suffering. 

The debt due him for the attendance upon Mr. Lincoln remains 
unpaid, though the doctor will bear the effects of his incarceration 
to the grave. 

We will next give Rev. George "W. Nelson's narrative of his 
prison life. Mr. Nelson is now rector of the Ejjiscopal church in 
Lexington, Virginia. As an alumnus of the University of Virginia, 
a gallant Confederate soldier, and since the war a devoted, useful 
minister of the gospel, Mr. Nelson is widely known and needs no 
endorsiition from us. The narrative was written not long after the 
close of the war, when the facts were fresh in his memory, and 
could be substantiated by memoranda in his possession. In a 
private letter to the editor, dated March 14, 1876, Mr. Nelson .says 
of his narrative : " It is all literal fact, understated rather than over- 
stated. I read it a few days since to Mr. Gillock of this place, 
(Lexington), who was my bunk-mate from Point Lookout until we 
were released, and he says that all of the facts correspond with his 
memory of them." Without further introduction, we submit the 
paper in full : 

REV. GEORGE W. NELSON 's NARRATIVE. 

I was captured on the 26th of October, 1863, under the following 
circumstances : I had just returned from within the enemy's lines 
to the home of my companion on the border. We were eating 
dinner, and thought ourselves perfectly secure. The sight of a 
blue coat at the window was the first intimation of the presence of 
the Yankees. We immediately jumped up and ran into another 



244 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

room, expecting to escape through a back window, but to our dis- 
may found that outlet also guarded. We next made tremendous 
exertions to get up into the garret of the house, but the trap-door 
was so weighted down as to resist our utmost strength. The effort 
to double up our long legs and big bodies in a wardrobe was 
equally unsuccessful. At last we threw ourselves under a bed and 
awaited our fate. A few minutes, and in they came — swords 
clattering, pistols cocked and leveled. They soon spied our legs 
under the bed. " Come out of that," was yelled out, then pistols 
were put in our faces, and I heard several voices call out " sur- 
render," which we did with as good a grace as we could. The 
ladies of the family were much distressed and alarmed, particularly 
when the Yankees came up to us with their pistols leveled. They 
implored : " Don't shoot them — don't shoot them." The Yankees 
answered : " 0, we aint going to hurt them." A few moments were 
given us to say good-bye, and then we were put upon our horses, 
(which they had found), placed in the column, with a trooper on 
each side and one in front leading our horses, thus precluding all 
chance of escape. We had gone about a mile, when an Orderly 
came up to us with an order from the Colonel to bring the ranking 
prisoner to the head of the column. Accordingly I was led forward. 
The Colonel saluted me, introduced a Captain Bailey who was riding 
with him, and said we should be treated with all possible courtesy 
while under his charge, and I must do him the justice to say he 
kept his word. He then proceeded to question me about our army. 
There were very few questions of this kind that I would have 
answered, but it happened that the Colonel and myself were both 
quite deaf, which gave rise to a ludicrous mistake, and resulted in 
putting a stop to the catechism. Overture : " Does JefiF. Davis visit 
the army often?" Answer: "0, yes, while we were camped about 
Orange Courthouse in the summer, the array of beauty was great, 
and the smiles of the fair ones fully compensated for the hardships 
of the Pennsylvania campaign." I thought he asked me whether 
the ladies visited the army. He asked me what I said. I re- 
peated. I then noticed he had a puzzled look, and that Captain 
Bailey could hardly restrain his laughter. So I told him I was 
deaf, and had probably misunderstood his question. He answered 
that he was deaf, too. I came to the conclusion he thought I was 
quizzing, as he did'nt ask any more questions. It is my intention 
to give full credit for every kindness I received, for stretched to the 
utmost, they make but two or three briglit spots in a dark record 
of- suffering and oppression. One of these occurred the evening of 
our capture. I had no gloves, and the night was very cold. Captain 
Bailey seeing this, gave me one of his, and the next day brought me 
a pair he had got for me. We halted the first night at a place called 
Ninevah. We were put for safe keeping in a small out-house, 
where we made our bed upon " squashes " and broken pieces of 
an old stove. This did not trouble us, however, as we intended to 
be awake all night in the hope of a chance for escape. But a 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 245 

numerous and vigilant guard disappointed us. We reached Stras- 
burg the next evening, where our captors gave us a dinner. We 
then went on to Winchester, where we spent the night. The 
Yankee officers gave us a first-rate supper. We reached Charles- 
town next day, where dinner was again given us — a very good one, 
too. The Yankee officers took us to their " mess," and treated us 
very courteously. That evening the Colonel commanding took us 
to Harper's Ferry. As we were starting, Captain Bailey very kindly 
gave us some tobacco, remarking, " You will find some difficulty 
in getting such things on the way." The Colonel left us at the 
Ferry, and we found ourselves in the hands of a different set of 
men. We were put in the " John Brown Engine House," where 
were already some twenty-five or thirty prisoners. There were no 
beds, no seats, and the floor and walls were alive with lice. Before 
being sent to this hole, we were stripped and searched. We stayed 
here about thirty-six hours, were then sent on to Wheeling, where 
we were put in a place neither so small nor so lousy as the one we 
had left, but the company was even less to our taste than lice, viz : 
Yankee convicts. We remained here two or three days, and then 
were taken to Camp Chase. We reached there in the night — were 
cold and wet. After undergoing a considerable amount of cursing 
and abuse, we were turned into prison No. 1, to shift for ourselves 
as best we could. At Camp Chase I made my first attempt at 
washing my clothes — having no change, I had to be minus shirt, 
drawers and socks during the operation. I worked so hard as to 
rub all the skin off my knuckles, and yet not enough to get the 
dirt out of my garments. We stayed at this place about twenty 
days. We were then started off to Johnson's Island. My friend 
had ten dollars good money when we reached Camp Chase, which 
was taken from him and sutlers' checks given instead. When about 
to leave for Johnson's Island, where, of course. Camp Chase checks 
would be useless, the sutler made it convenient not to be on 
hand to redeem his paper, so my friend lost all the little money he 
had. We marched from Camp Chase to Columbus, where we took 
the cars. This march was brutally conducted. Several of our 
number were sick, and yet the whole party was made to double 
quick nearly the whole distance — five miles. The excuse was, that 
otherwise " we would be too late for the train." But why not have 
made an earlier start? or why not have waited for the next train? 
We traveled all day, reached Johnson's Island in the night, worn 
out and hungry. I stayed at Johnson's Island from about November 
20th to April 26th. During this time, in common Avith many 
others, I suffered a good deal. Prisoners who were supplied by 
friends in the North got along very well, but those altogether de- 
pendent upon the tender mercies of the Government were poorly 
off indeed. I was among the latter for sometime — not having been 
able to communicate with my friends until the middle of Decem- 
ber. But the New Year brought me supplies and letters more 
precious than bank notes, even to a half starved, shivering prisoner. 



246 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

The building in which I stayed was a simple weather-boarded 
house, through which the wind blew and the snow beat at will. It 
is true many of the buildings were quite comfortable, but I speak 
of my own experience. The first of January, 1864, was said by all 
to be the coldest weather ever known at that point. It was so 
cold that the sentinels Avere taken off for fear of their freezing. 
Wherever the air struck the face the sensation was that of ice 
pressed hard against it. Yet cold as it was, we were without fire 
in my room from 3 o'clock in the evening to 9 o'clock next morn- 
ing. I went to my bed, which consisted of two blankets, one to 
lie upon and one to cover with, but sleep was out of the question 
under such circumstances. So I got up, got together several icllow- 
prisoners, and kept up the circulation of blood and spirits until 
day light by dancing. My chum, unfortunately, stayed in our 
bunk — the consequence was, he was unable to get his boots on, so 
badly were his feet frost-bitten. During my stay in this prison, 
there was at times a scarcity of water, sufficient not only to incon- 
venience us, but to cause actual suffering. The wells from Avhich 
we got our supply were shallow, and were generally exhausted 
early in the afternoon. We were surrounded by a lake of water, 
whence Ave might have been allowed a plentiful supply, but the 
fear of our escaping was so great that we were never allowed to go 
to the lake except through a long line of guards. This opportunity 
was given once a day, except when the wells were frozen so that no 
water could be got from them at all, then we had access to the lake 
twice a day. In this prison, as in all others in which it was my 
misfortune to be confined, we were liable to be shot at at any time, 
and for nothing. I remember three different times that the room 
I stayed in was fired into at night because the sentinel said we had 
lights burning, when to my certain knowledge there was no light 
in the room. The authorities had rules stuck up, the observance 
of which, they said, would insure safety. It is true, the non- 
observance of them would almost certainly entail death or a wound, 
but the converse was by no means true. Sentinels interpreted rules 
as they pleased, and fired upon us at the dictation of their cowardly 
hearts. In no instance have I seen or heard of their being pun- 
ished for it, though it was clearly proven that the sufferer violated 
no rule. This prison afforded opportunity for the exhibition of a 
spirit characteristic of our people, and Avliich, now they are over- 
powered and under the heel of oppression, is still manifested. It 
is that spirit of self-reliance and submission to the will of Provi- 
dence, which, added to a conscious rectitude of purpose, bids men 
make the best of their circumstances. This spirit sliowed itself at 
Johnson's Ishmd in the efforts made to pass the time pleasantly 
and profitably. Schools, debating clubs, and games of all kinds 
were in vogue. There were all kinds of shops. Shoemaker, black- 
smith, tailor, jeweler, storekeeper, were all found carrying on their 
respective business. The impression is upon my mind of manj 
disagreeable, unkind, and oppressive measures taken by the author- 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 247 

ities, but the very severe treatment to which I was afterwards sub- 
jected so far threw them into the shade that they have escaped 
my memory. I must not omit a statement about food. At Camp 
Chase my rations were of a good quality and sufficient. At John- 
son's Island they were not so good nor near so plentiful, though 
sufficient to keep a man in good health. While at Johnson's 
Island, I made two attempts to escape. My first attempt was in 
December. Six of us started a tunnel from under one of the 
buildings, with the intention of coming to the surface outside of 
the pen surrounding the prison. Our intention then Avas to s^im 
to the nearest point of mainland, about a quarter of a mile distant-, 
and then make across the country for the South. We had Avith 
infinite labor, during three or four nights, made a considerable 
hole, and were in high spirits at the prospect, when one night there 
came a tremendous rain, which caved in our tunnel and blasted 
our hopes for that time. My next attempt was on the 2d of 
January, 1864, during the intensely cold weather. I succeeded in 
getting to the fence where the sentinel was posted, but the guard 
was so vigilant it was impossible to get over. I lay by the fence 
until nearly frozen. The moon shone out brightly, and I had to 
run for my life. In the beginning of spring an exchange of sick 
and disabled prisoners was agreed upon between the two Govern- 
ments. I had been very unwell for some three months. Accord- 
ingly I went before the board of physicians, which decided I was 
a fit subject for exchange. On the 2Gth of April, in company with 
one hundred and forty sick, I left Johnson's Island, fully believing 
that in a few da3^s I would be once more in dear old Dixie. We 
traveled by rail to Baltimore, thence we went by steamer to Point 
Lookout. Here I drank to the dregs the cup of "Hope deferred 
that maketh the heart sick." Every few daj'-s we were told we 
would certainly leave for the South by the next boat^once all of 
us were actual!}' called up to sign the parole not to take up arms, 
etc., until regularly exchanged — but the order was countermanded 
before one-third of us had signed the roll. I never before nor since 
felt so sick at heart as then. My disappointments of the same 
character have been many, but that overstepped them all. All 
faith in the truth of any Government official was then shattered 
forever. The greater part of my time at Point Lookout was passed 
in the hospital, where I was very well treated. The sick were not 
closely guarded, and had the privilege of the whole Point. It was 
no small consolation to sit for hours on tlie beach, the fresh breeze 
blowing in your face, the free waters rolling endless before you 
(moodful as nature's own child, sparkling with infinite lustre in 
the sunshine of a calm day, kissing with a soft murmur of Avelcome 
the gentle breeze or struggling with an angry roar in the embrace 
of the tempest), and miles distant was the Virginia shore, and I 
have often thought I might claim a kindred feeling with the 
prophet viewing from Pisgah the land he might not reach. About 
the middle of May the hospital was crowded with wounded 



248 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

Yankees sent from Butler's line. This necessitated our removal. 
Accordingly we were sent out to the regular prison. There we 
lived in tents. We still had one luxury — sea bathing. The drink- 
ing water here was very injurious — caused diarrhoea. About this 
time rations were reduced. We were cut down to two meals a day. 
Coffee and sugar were stopped. The ration was a small loaf of 
bread per day, a small piece of meat for breakfast, and a piece of 
meat, and what was called soup, for dinner. About the 20th of 
June I was removed to Fort Delaware. We were crowded in the 
hold and between decks of a steamer for three days, the time 
occupied in the trip. I thought at the time this was terrible, but 
subsequent experience taught me it was only a small matter. On 
reaching Fort Delaware we underwent the "search" usual at most 
of the prisons. What money I had I put in brown paper, which 
I placed in my mouth in a chew of tobacco. I thus managed to 
secure it. An insufficiency of food was the chief complaint at 
Fort Delaware. I did not suffer. My friends supplied me with 
money, and I was allowed to purchase from the sutler what I 
needed. While at Fort Delaware, one of our number, Colonel 
Jones, of Virginia, was murdered by one of the guard. Colonel 
Jones had been sick for sometime. One foot was so swollen he 
could not bear a shoe upon it, and it was with difficulty he walked 
at all. One evening he hobbled to the sinks. As he was about to 
return a considerable crowd of prisoners had collected there. The 
sentinel ordered them to move off, which they did. Colonel Jones 
could not move fast. The sentinel ordered him to move ftister. 
He replied that he was doing the best he could, he could not walk 
any faster, whereupon the sentinel shot him, the ball jiassing 
through the arm and lungs. He lived about twenty-four hours. 
He remarked to the commandant of the post: " Sir, I am a mur- 
dered man — murdered for nothing — I was breaking no rule." The 
prisoners at Fort Delaware were great beer drinkers. The beer 
was made of molasses and water — was sold by prisoners to each 
other for five cents per glass. Every few yards there was a 
" beer stand." Beer was drank in the place of water — the latter 
article being very warm, and at times very brackish. While at 
Fort Delaware we were kept on the rack by alternate hope and 
disappointment. Rumors, that never came to anything, of an 
immediate general exchange, were every day occurrences. On 
the 2()th of August, 1864, six hundred of us were selected and 
sent to Morris' Island, in Charleston harbor, to be placed under the 
fire of our own batteries. We were in high spirits at starting, for 
we firmly believed we were soon to be exchanged for a like number 
of the enemy in Charleston, In some instances men gave their 
gold watches to some of the " lucky ones," as they Avere termed, to 
be allowed to go in their places. On the evening of the 20th we 
were all (600) stowed away between decks of the steamer " Crescent." 
Bunks had been fixed up for us. They were arranged in three 
tiers along the whole length of the ship, two rows of three tiers 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 24& 

each on each side of the vessel, leaving a very narrow passage- 
way, so narrow that two men could with difficulty squeeze by each 
other. In the centre of the rows the lower and centre tiers of 
bunks were shrouded in continual night, the little light through 
the port holes being cut off by the upper tier of bunks. My bunk, 
which was about five feet ten inches square, and occupied by four 
persons, was right against the boiler, occasioning an additional 
amount of heat, which made the sensation of suffocation almost 
unbearable. Here we lay in these bunks, packed away like sardines, 
in all eighteen days, in the hottest part of summer. In two in- 
stances the guard placed in with us fainted. I heard one of them 
remark : " A dog could'nt stand this." Perspiration rolled off us 
in streams all the time. Clothes and blankets were saturated with 
it, and it constantly dripped from the upper to the lower bunks. 
Our sufferings were aggravated by a scarcity of water. The water 
furnished us was condensed, and so intense was the thirst for it, 
that it was taken from the condenser almost boiling hot and drunk 
in that state. One evening, during a rain, we were allowed on 
deck. Several of us carried up an old, dirty oil-cloth, which we 
held by the four corners until nearly full of rain water. We then 
plunged our heads in and drank to our fill. I remember well the 
sensation of delight, the wild joy with which I felt the cool water 
about my face and going down my throat. On one occasion, hearing 
that the surgeon gave his medicines, in ice water, I went to him 
and asked for a dose of salts, which he gave me, and after it a glass 
of ice water. He remarked upon the indifference with which I 
swallowed the physic. I told him I would take another dose for 
another glass of water, which he was kind enough to give me 
minus the salts. It was strange that none of us died during this 
trip. I can account for it only by the fact that we were sustained 
by the hope every one had of being soon exchanged and returning 
home. Our skins, which were much tanned when we started, were 
bleached as white as possible during this trip. We lay for some 
days off Port Royal, while a pen was being made on Morris' Island 
in which to confine us. While at anchor, three of our number 
attempted their escape. They found some " life preservers " some- 
where in the ship. With these they got overboard in the night, 
swam some eight or ten miles, when two of them landed ; the 
third kept on swimming, and I have never heard of him since. 
The other two got lost among the islands and arms of the sea, and 
after scuffling and suffering for three days were re-captured and 
brought back to their old quarters. On the 7th of September, 
1864, we landed on Morris' Island. We disembarked during the 
middle of the day, under a scorching sun, but yet the change from 
the close, and by that time, filthy hold of the ship, was delightful. 
During the voyage we were guarded by white soldiers. They were 
now relieved by blacks, and they were certainly the blackest I 
ever saw. But black, uncouth and barbarous as they were, we soon 
found that they were far preferable to the white officers who com- 



250 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

man (led them. If physiognomy is any index of character, then 
surely these officers were villainous. But not one of them, in looks 
or deeds, could compare with their Colonel. I always felt in his 
presence as if I had suddenly come upon a snake. He used 
frequently to come into the pen and talk with some of the prisoners. 
He seemed to take a fiendish pleasure in our suff"erings. A prisoner 
said to him, on one occasion : " Colonel, unless you give us more 
to eat, we will starve." His reply was : " If I had my way I would 
feed you on an oiled rag./' Once he told us we must hury the 
refuse bones in the sand to prevent any bad smell from tliem. 
One of our number answered : " If you don't give us something 
more to eat, there will not only be nothing to bury, but there won't 
be any of us left to bury it." " Ah, well," he replied, " when you 
commence to stink, I'll put you in the ground too." The bread 
issued us was spoiled and filled with worms. Some one remon- 
strated with him about giving men such stufi* to eat. His answer 
was : " You were complaining about not having any fresh meat, so 
I thought I would supply you." The pen in which we were con- 
fined had an area of one square acre. It was nearly midway 
between batteries Gregg and Wagner, perfectly exposed to the shot 
and shell fired at the two batteries. The principal firing was from 
mortars, and was done mostly at night. We lived in tents, and 
had not the least protection from the fire. This, however, troubled 
us but little. Our great concern was at the small amount and 
desperate quality of the food issued. One of our greatest pleasures 
was in watching the shells at night darting through the air like 
shooting stars, and in predicting how near to us they would ex- 
plode. Sometimes they exploded just overhead, and the fragments 
went whizzing about us. But, strange to sa}^, during our stay there, 
from September 7th to October 19th, not one of our number was 
struck, though there was firing every day and night, and sometimes 
it was very brisk. The negro guard was as much exposed as our- 
selves. One of them had his leg knocked off by a shell — the only 
person struck that I heard of. In this place we lived in small A 
tents — four men to a tent. The heat was intense during tlie day, 
but the nights were cool and pleasant — the only drawback to 
sleep being the constant noise from exploding shell and from the 
firing of the forts by us. Our camp was laid ofi' in streets, two 
rows of tents facing each other, making a street. These rows were 
called A, B, 0, D, E, F, G, H. A negro sergeant had charge of 
each row, calling it "his company." His duties were to call the 
roll three times per diem, issue rations, and exercise a general 
superintendence. These sergeants Avere generally kind to us, ex- 
pressed their sorrow that we had so little to eat. We had a point - 
in common with them, viz : intense hatred of their Colonel. Their 
hatred of him was equalled only by their fear of him. His treat- 
ment of them, for the least violation of orders, or infraction of 
discii^line, was barbarous. He would ride at them, knock and 
beat them over the head with his sabre, or draw liis pistol and 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 251 

shoot at them. Our rations were issued in manner and quantity 
jas follows : The sergeant came around to each tent with a box of 
;ihard biscuit, issued to each prisoner three, generally, sometimes 
lltwo, sometimes one and a half. Towards the last of our stay five 
]|were issued, which last was the number allowed by the authorities. 
•!The sergeant next came around with a box of small pieces of 
jjmeat, about the width and length of two fingers. One of them 
(was given to each man. This was breakfast. At dinner time the 
sisergeant went around with a barrel of pea soup — gave each man 
.'Ifrom one-third to half a pint. Supper wi;is marked by the issue of 
jia little mush or rice. This, too, was brought around in a barrel. 
ill have before spoken of the lively nature of the bread. Any one 
jiwho had not seen it would hardly credit the amount of dead 
jianimal matter in the shape of white worms, which was in the 
ijmush given us. For my own part, I was always too hungry to be 
■jidainty — worms, mush and all went to satisfy the cravings of nature. 
(iBut I knew of several persons, who, attempting to pick them out, 
•'having thrown out from fifty to eighty, stopped picking them out, 
ijuot because the worms were all gone, but because the little bit of 
|mush was going with them. 

j While at Morris' Island we considered ourselves in much more 
[danger from the guns of the guard than from ojar batteries. The 
j'negroes were thick-headed, and apt to go beyond their orders, 
lor misunderstand. They were, therefore, very dangerous. For- 
jftunately they were miserable shots, else several men would have 
^been killed who really were not touched. A sutler was permitted 
4o come in once a week to sell tobacco, stationery, molasses, cakes, 
jietc, to those who had money. Inside the enclosure and all around 
.the tents was a rope: this was the "Dead Line." To go beyond, 
jor even to touch this rope, was death — that is, if the sentinel could 
hit you. When the sutler came in we were ordered to form in two 
ranks, faced by the flank towards the "Dead Line." Every new 
(comer had to fall in behind, and await his turn. On one occasion, 
one of our number, either not knowing or having forgotten the 
order, walked up to the "Dead Line" on the flank of the line of 
men. Lie was not more than five yards from a sentinel. An 
officer was standing by the sentinel, and ordered him to fire, which 
he did, and wonderful to say, missed not only the man at whom 
•he shot, but the entire line. The officer then pulled his pistol, 
and fired it at the prisoner. He also missed. The prisoner, not 
liking a position where all the firing was on one side, then made 
good his retreat to his tent. 

Our authorities in Charleston and the Yankee authorities on the 
island exchanged a boat load of provisions, tobacco, etc., for their 
respective prisoners. Bread, potatoes, meat, and both smoking and 
chewing tobacco, were sent us by the Charleston ladies. Never 
was anything more enjoyed, and never, I reckon, were men more 
thankful. I had as much as I cocld eat for once, even on Morris' 
Island. All the prisoners seemed io squirt out tobacco juice, and 



252 Southern Historical Society Papers. 



11 



puff tobacco smoke, with a keener relish from knowing where i 
came from, and by whom it was sent. There, as elsewhere, wi 
were constantly expecting to be exchanged. No one counted upoi; 
being there more than ten days ; and, at the end of that ten days 
"why, we will surely be in Dixie before another ten days passes.'ij 
One freak of the Yankees I have never been able to account for, 
They took us out of the pen one morning, marched us down to the 
opposite end of the island, put us on board two old hulks, kept Uf 
there for the night, then marched us back to our old quarters. Aboui\ 
the IStli of October we were ordered to be ready to leave early tht 
next morning. In compliance with this order, we got up earliei 
than usual, in order to bundle up our few possessions and wash' 
our faces before leaving. The guard took this occasion to shooi 
two of our number, one through the knee, the other through the 
shoulder. Early on the morning of the 18th of October we were 
drawn up in line, three days' rations were issued, viz v fifteen "hard 
tack" and a right gooel-sizeel piece of meat. I felt myself a rich 
man. I remember well the loving looks I cast upon my deai 
victuals, and the tender care with which I adjusted and carried my 
trusty old haversack. A few moments more and we took up. the 
line of march for the lower end of Morris' Island, with a heavy 
line of darkey guards on either side. The distance was only three 
miles, but this to men confined for over a year, and for two months 
previous existing upon such light rations, was a very considerable 
matter. Several of our number gave out completely, and had to 
be hauled the remaining distance. Arrived at the wharf, we ex- 
changed our negro guards for w^hite ones, the 157th New York Vol- 
unteers, Colonel Brown commanding. This officer and his men 
though we afterwards while in their hands were subjected to the 
most severe treatment, as far as they were concerned individually 
always treated us with kindness. We were put in two old hulks 
fittecl up for us, and then were towed out to sea. The first evening 
of the journey I fell upon my "victuals," and was so hungry that 
I ate my three elays' rations at once. To a question from a friend, 
"What will you do for the rest of the time?" I replied: "I reckon 
the Lord will provide." But I made a mistake. I might have, 
known the Almighty would lise such instruments as were about 
us only as ministers of wrath. The evening of the third day we 
anchored off Fort Pulaski. By this time I was nearly famished. 
We did not land until the next morning, when we were marched 
into the fort and provisions given us. On the journey a party 
attempted to escape. They had succeeded in cutting a hole in the 
siele of the vessel, and were just letting themselves down into the 
water when they were discovereel and brougiit back. 

Fort Pulaski is a brick work, mounts two tiers of guns, the lower 
tier in casemates. The walls enclose about an acre of ground. 
We were placeel in the casemates, where bunks in three tiers were 
prepared for us. The flooring was mostly brick. This was very 
damp, which, together with the colel, damp air, rendered us very 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 253 

liicomfortable. A heavy guard was thrown around our part of 
he fort, and for additional security iron grates were placed in the 
imbrasures. Twenty prisoners at a time were allowed to walk up 
md down the parade ground within the fort for exercise. Doors 
md windows were generally kept shut, and our abiding place was 
lark and gloomy enough. 

Nothing remarkable happened until the end of the old year. A 
iolerable amount of rations was issued, and our life was pretty 
nuch the same with prison life elsewhere. The new year brought 
I, terrible change. General Foster ordered us to be retaliated upon 
or alleged ill treatment of prisoners at Andersonville, Georgia. 
)ur rations were reduced to less than one pint of meal and about 
I half pint of pickle per day. No meat and no vegetables of any 
j;ind were allowed us. The meal issued was damaged. It was in 
umps larger than a man's head, and as hard as clay : it was sour, 
iind generally filled with bugs and worms. We either had to eat 
this or lie down and die at once. This regimen lasted forty-three 
lays. I cannot do justice to the misery and suffering experienced 
j)y myself and seen everywhere. around me during this period. It 
iS only one year since, and yet I can hardly believe I really passed 
ihrough such scenes as memory brings before me. Our diet soon 
Induced scurvy. This loathsome disease, in addition to the pangs 
itf hunger, made life almost insupportable. The disease first made 
Its appearance in the mouth, loosening- the teeth, and in many 
lases making the gums a mass of black, putrid flesh. It next 
ttacked the limbs, appearing first in little spots, like blood blisters. 
'One of them, after being broken, would become a hard, dark- 
'olored knot. These spots would increase until the whole limb 
Vas covered, by which time the muscles would have contracted 
nd the limb be drawn beyond all power of straightening. I have 
een cases where not only the legs and arms but the back was thus 
I ffected. Another feature of the disease was the fainting produced 
y very slight exercise. I have walked down the prison, and 
tumbled upon men lying on the floor to all appearance dead, 
Laving fainted and fallen while exerting themselves to get to the 
j sinks." 

^ Terrible as was the above state of things, our sufferings were in- 
creased by as heartless and uncalled-for a piece of cruelty as has 
■ver been recorded. Our poor fellows generally were supplied, and 
lat slimly, with summer clothing, such as they brought from Fort 
Delaware in August. United States blankets (and many had no 
iHher kind) had been taken away at Morris' Island. Not only 
'ere blankets and clothing not issued, but we ivere not allowed to 
3ceive ivhat friends had sent us. We had only so much fuel as was 
ceded for cooking. Can a more miserable state of existence be 
aiagined than this? Starved almost to the point of death, a prey 
3 disease, the blood in the veins so thin that the least cold sent a 
hiver through the whole frame ! No fire, no blankets, scarcely 
ny clothing ! Add to this the knowledge on our part that a few 



254 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

steps off were those who lived in plenty and comfort ! Crumbs 
and bones were there daily thrown to the dogs or carried to the 
dunghill, that would have made the eyes of the famished men in 
that prison glisten. The consequence of all this was that the pris- 
oners died like sheep. Whatever the immediate cause of their 
death, that cause was induced by starvation, and over the dead 
bodies of nine-tenths of those brave, true men there can be given but 
one true verdict : " Death by starvation.''^ I remember one instance 
that, suffering as I was myself, touched me to the heart. One poor 
fellow, who had grown so weak as not to be able to get off his 
bunk, said to his "chum": "I can't stand this any longer, I must 
die." "0, no," said the other, "cheer up, man, rations will be 
issued again in two days, and I reckon they will certainl}'- give us 
something to eat then — ^live until then anyhow." The poor fellow 
continued to live until the day for issuing rations, but it brought 
no change — the same short pint of damaged meal and pickle, and 
nothing more. As soon as the poor fellow heard this, he told his 
friend not to beg him any more, for he could not live any longer, 
and the next evening he died. 

Fortunately for some of us, there were a great many cats about 
the prison. As may be imagined, we were glad enough to eat 
them. I have been partner in the killing and eating of three, and 
besides friends have frequently given me a share of their cat. We 
cooked ours two ways. One we fried in his own fat for breakfast — 
another we baked with a stuffing and gravy made of some corn 
meal — the other we also fried. The last was a kitten — was tender 
and nice. A compassionate Yankee soldier gave it to me. I was 
cooking, at the stove by the grating which separated us from the 
guard. This soldier hailed me : " I say, are you one of them 
fellers that eat catsf" I replied, "Yes." " Well, here is one I'll 
shove thro' if you want it." " Shove it thro'," I answered. In a 
very few minutes the kitten was in frying order. Our guards were 
not allowed to relieve our sufferings, "but they frequently expressed 
their sympathy. The Colonel himself told us it was a painful 
duty to inflict such suffering, but that we knew he was a soldier 
and must obey orders. 

The 3d of March, 1865, dawned upon us ladened with rumors of 
a speedy exchange. The wings of hope had been so often clipped 
by disappointment, one would have thought it impossible for her 
to rise very high. " Hope springs," etc., received no denial in our 
case. Each man was more or less excited. Strong protestations of 
belief that nothing would come of it were heard on all sides. But 
the anxiety manifested in turning the rumor over and over, the 
criticisms upon the source from which it came, and especially the 
tenacity with which they clung to it in spite of professed disbelief, 
showed that in the hearts of all the hope that deliverance was at 
hand had taken deep root. On the 4th the order came to be ready 
to start in two hours. Soon after one of our ranking officers was 
told by one of the officials that an order was just received from 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 255 

Grant to exchange' us immediately. We were wild with hope. 
The chilling despair which had settled upon us for months seemed 
to rise at once. All were busy packing their few articles. Cheerful 
talk and hearty laughter was heard all through the prison. " Well, 
old fellow, off for Dixie at last," was said as often as one friend 
met another. The alacrity with which the sick and crippled 
dragged themselves about was wonderful. Soon the drum beat, 
the line was formed and the roll called. " Forward, march !" Two 
by two we passed through the entrance to the Fort, over the moat, 
and then Fort Pulaski was left behind us forever ! 

One sorrowful thought accompanied us. Our joy could not 
reach the poor fellows who had suffered with us and fallen victims 
to hunger and disease, and whose remains lay uncared for, un- 
honored, aye! unmarked. A good many head-boards, with the 
name, rank and regiment of the dead had been prepared by friends, 
but an opportunity to put them up was not given, although it had 
been promised. We reached Hilton Head without anything re- 
markable happening. Then we took on our party which had been 
sent there at the beginning of the retaliation, or " Meal and Pickles," 
as we used to call it. This party had undergone the same treat- 
ment. The greeting between friends was : " How are you, old 
fellow, ain't dead yet? you are hard to kill." " I'm mighty glad 
to see you. Have some pickles — or here is some sour meal if you 
prefer it." The boat in which we started was now so crowded that 
there was not room for all to sit down. It was so overloaded, and 
rolled so, that the Captain refused to put to sea unless a larger 
ship was given to him. Accordingly we were transferred to the 
ship " Illinois." The sick, about half our number, occupied the 
lower deck — the rest of us were packed away in the " hole." But 
no combination of circumstances could depress us as long as we 
believed we were " bound for Dixie." So we laughed at our close 
quarters, at ourselves and each other, when sea sick. We were 
almost run away with by lice, but we off shirts and skirmished 
with these varmints with the " vim " inspired by " bound for 
Dixie." 

We reached Fort Monroe on the third day. By this time the 
filth in the ship was awful — language can't describe the condition 
of the deck where the sick were. The poor fellows were unable to 
help themselves, and sea sickness and diarrhoea had made their 
quarters unendurable. The stench was terrible — the air suffocating. 
We expected to go right up the James river and be exchanged at 
City Point. We were most cruelly disappointed. Orders were 
received to carry us to Fort Delaware. When we learned this we 
were in despair. The stimulus which had enabled us to bear up 
all along was gone; we were utterly crushed. The deaths of three 
of our number during the day and night following told the tale of 
our utter wretchedness. Their death excited little or no pit3^ I 
think the feeling towards them was rather one of envy. I re- 
member hardly anything of our passage from Fort Monroe to 



256 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

Fort Delaware. A gloom too deep for even the ghost of hope to 
enter was upon my spirits. I noticed little and cared less. Upon 
reaching Fort Delaware seventy-five of our number were carried 
to the prison hospital, and had there been room many more would 
have gone. We were marched into the same place we had left 
more than six months before. I had no idea what a miserable 
looking set of men we were until contrasted with the Fort Delaware 
prisoners — our old companions. I thought they were the fattest, 
best dressed set of men I had ever seen. That they looked thus to 
me, will excite no surprise when I describe my own appearance, A 
flannel shirt, low in the neck, was my only under-garment. An 
old overcoat, once white, was doing duty as shirt, coat and vest ; 
part of an old handkerchief tied around my head served as a hat ; 
breeches I had none — an antiquated pair of red flannel drawers 
endeavored, but with small success, to fill their place. I was very 
thin and poor and was lame, scurvy having drawn the muscles of 
my right leg. When I add that I was in better condition, both in 
flesh and dress than many of our crowd, some idea can be formed 
of the appearance we made. The prisoners came to our rescue, 
gave us clothes, subscribed money, and bought vegetables for us. 
For a long time after our arrival, whenever any one was about to 
throw away an old crumb or piece of meat or worn out garment, 
some bystander would call out: "Don't throw that away, give it 
to some of the poor Pulaski prisoners." The fall of Richmond, 
Lee's surrender, and, finally, the capitulation of Johnston's army, 
soon swept from us every hope of a Southern Confederacy. But 
one course remained, viz : swear allegiance to the Government in 
whose power we were. Upon doing this, I was released on the 
13th of June, 1865. 

We next give the following extract from a private letter, written 
August 4th, 1865, from Great Barrington, Massachusetts, by a Con- 
federate ofiicer, to a lady of Richmond, the full truth of which can 
be abundantly attested : 

I was captured on Tuesday, the 4th of April, near evening. 
Some four hundred or more, that had been collected during the 
day, were marched a few miles and stowed away for the night in a 
small tobacco barn. The next morning we were told that if we 
could find any meat on the remains of three slaughtered cattle 
(that had already been closely cut from) we were welcome. No 
bread or salt was ofiered, yet it could be had for money. From 
Tuesday till Friday all that I had given me to eat was tioo ears of 
musty corn and four crackers ! During that time we were exposed 
to the rain, which was continued for days. We were marched 
through mud and water to City Point, a distance of near one 
hundred miles by the route taken. The first sustaining food I 
received was from Mrs. Marable, at Petersburg, and I shall ever feel 
grateful to her for it. We arrived at Point Lookout at night, and 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 257 

mustered for examination next morning over eighteen hundred. 
After searching my package and person, taking from me nearly 
everytliing that my captors had left me, I was assigned, with two 
others, to a tent having already twenty-three occupants. I cannot 
describe the appearance of that tent and the men in it. If there 
is a word more comprehensive than filthy I would use it. It would 
require a combination of similar adjectives to give any description. 
There was given me a half loaf of bread and a small rusty salt 
mackerel, which I was informed was for next day's rations. I de- 
clared I would not sleep in the tent, but was told there was no 
alternative, as the guards or patrol would shoot me if I slept out- 
side. It was a horrible night. Weary, exhausted, almost heart- 
broken, I ate a part of my scanty loaf, and placed the remainder 
under my head with the fish. I soon forgot my troubles in sleep. 
Waked in the morning and found I had been relieved of any 
further anxiety for my bread, as it had been taken from me by 
some starving individual, (a common occurrence). The mackerel 
was left as undesirable. A chew of tobacco would purchase two, so 
little demand was there for them — for many had no means of 
cooking them. A few hours of reflection — that ever to be remem- 
bered morning. There were none there that I had ever seen, ex- 
cept the few acquaintances made on the march. All looked dark, 
dismal — and the thought I might remain there for months came 
nearer to making my heart sink in despair than ever before. I 
thought that must be surely the darkest hour of my existence. 
While thus lamenting my fate, and almost distrustful of relief, a 
boy near me asked what regiment I belonged to. I told him the 
Washington Artillery. "Why," says he, "there is a whole com- 
pany of them fellows here captured near Petersburg." I began to 
revive a little on that. For though the saying goes, that " Misery 
seeks strange bed fellows," I sought for old acquaintances, and 
soon found them. The surprise was mutual. By the kindness of 
Mr. Vinson, I had good quarters with him, and was more com- 
fortable. We had a small tent, and 07ily six in it. True, we were 
" packed like sardines " at night, but we were friends, and each 
one had a pride and disposition to keep as cleanly as we could. 
The food allowed was as follows : In the morniug, early, the men 
are marched by companies (each about one hundred and fifty) to 
the " cook houses," and receive a small piece of boiled beef or 
pork. I do not think the largest piece ever given would weigh 
three ounces. There is no bread given at this time, and it is a 
common occurrence for the men to have eaten their scanty allow- 
ance in a few mouthfuls without bread. At or near twelve o'clock, 
M., there is issued to each a half of a small loaf of bread, (eight 
ounce loaves). The men can then go to the cook-houses and re- 
ceive a pint of miserable soup. That is the last meal for the day. 
I never tasted of the soup (so called) but once. It was revolting — 
I might say revolving to my stomach. Sometimes, in place of meat, 
is given salt mackerel or codfish — never of good quality. The 
3 



258 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

water at the "Point" was horrible, being strongly tinctured with 
copperas and decayed shells, &c. It was obtained from wells in 
different parts of the enclosure. Near the officers quarters' was one 
pump from which a little better water was sometimes received by 
favored ones. This location for a prison was once condemed by a 
Board of Surgeons on account of the poisonous composition of the 
water. Many persons were greatly affected by the water, and the 
food given would barely sustain life — in many cases it did not — and 
I feel confident that money deaths were caused solely from scanty 
and unhealthy food, and this too by a Government- that had plenty. 

Whenever any complaint was made of the food or treatment, the 
reply would be : " 'Tis good enough for you, and far better than 
Andersonville." I depended very little upon the food issued, as in 
a week after my imprisonment I received money from my friends 
and was enabled to purchase coffee, etc., and lived well. Most of 
the Washington Artillery fared well, but it was by purchase rather 
than favor. The sutlers were most happy to receive our money, 
and charged more than double the market value for their supplies. 

We were fortunate even thus, for there were thousands of that 
motley group that for months had not a sufficiency of food. I 
have seen them many times fishing out from the barrels (in which 
all the filth and offal of the camp is thrown) crusts of bread, 
potato peelings, onion tops, etc., etc. — in fact,' anything from which 
they might fincl little sustenance. I had never before witnessed to 
what great extremity hunger would drive a human being. The 
discipline of the prison was very strict. The guard was most of 
the time of colored troops, who, when (as they usually were) badly 
treated by their officers, would vent their rage upon the prisoners. 

Much is said in the papers of the " Dead Line," over which so 
many "blue coats" had "accidentally" passed and were shot for 
their " imprudence." In all prisons the penalty for passing the 
"Dead Line" is well known, and there can be no excuse in such 
attempt. At Point Lookout Confederate soldiers were shot for 
being at the pumps for water, which had always been permitted at 
all hours of night, till the self-constituted restriction of the negro 
guard caused several men to be severely wounded. I was an eye- 
witness of many .disgusting scenes, almost brutal on the part of 
the guard, towards simple and ignorant prisoners. That prison 
was said to be the best of all the Yankee prisons — if so, I am 
truly sorry for those that were in the othere. I know not what 
Andersonville was. I do not doubt but there was great suffering, 
but all was done by the Government that could be, and we had 
not the resources of the world as had the Yankees. 

Thus have I given you some particulars. It is really an " un- 
varnished tale," but it is true, and I can safely challenge the denial 
of a word of it. 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 259 



HON. A. M. KEILEY S NARRATIVE. 

In 1S66 Hon. A. M. Keiley, (then of Petersburg, but for some 
years past the'^scholarly and popular Mayor of Richmond), pub- 
lished a volume on his prison life at Point Lookout and Elmira, 
which we would be glad to see read by all who really wish to know 
the truth concerning those prisons. We make the following ex- 
tracts concerning Point Lookout: 

The routine of prison-life at Point Lookout was as follows: 
Between dawn and sunrise a " reveille " horn summoned us into 
line by companies, ten of which constituted each division — of which 
I have before spoken — and here the roll was called. This perform- 
ance was hurried over with much as haste as is ascribed to certain 
marital ceremonies in a poem that it would be obviously improper 
to make a more particular allusion to; and those whose love of a 
nap predominates over fear of the Yankees, usually tumble in for 
another snooze. About eight o'clock the breakfasting began. This 
operation consisted in the forming of the companies again into 
line, and introducing them under lead of their sergeants into the 
mess-rooms, where a slice of bread and a piece of pork or beef — 
lean in the former and fat in the latter being contraband of war — 
were placed at intervals of about twenty inches apart. The meat 
was tisually about four or five ounces in weight. These we seized 
upon, no one being allowed to touch a piece, however, until the 
whole company entered, and each man was in position opposite 
his ration (universally pronounced raytion, among our enemies, as 
it is almost as generally called with the "a" short among ourselves, 
symbolical, you observe, of the shortness of provant in Dixie). This 
over, a detail of four or five men from each company — made at 
morning roll-call — formed themselves into squads for the cleansing 
of the camp ; an operation which the Yankees everywhere attend 
to with more diligence than ourselves. The men then busied 
themselves with the numberless occupations which the fertility of 
American genius suggests, of which I will have something to say 
hereafter, until dinner-time, when they were again carried to the 
mess-houses, where another slice of bread, and rather over a half- 
pint of watery slop, by courtesy called "soup," greeted the eyes of 
such ostrich-stomached animals as could find comfort in that sub- 
stitute, for nourishment. 

About sunset, at the winding of another horn, the roll was again 
called, to be sure that no one had "flanked out," and, about an 
hour after, came "taps;" after which all were required to remain 
in their quarters and keep silent. 

The Sanitary Commission, a benevolent association of exempts 
in aid of the Hospital Department of the Yankee army, published 
in July, 1865, a " Narrative of Sufferings of United States Officers 
and Soldiers, Prisoners of War," in which a parallel is drawn be- 



260 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

tween the treatment of prisoners on both sides, greatly to the 
disadvantage, of course, of "Dixie." 

An air of truthfuhiess is given to tins production by a number of 
aflidavits of Confederate prisoners, which made many a Confederate 
stare and laugh to read. 

They were generally the statements of "galvanized" rebels, "so 
called;" that is, prisoners who had applied for permission to take 
the oath, or of prisoners who had little offices in the various pens, 
which they would lose on the whisper of any thing disagreeable, 
and their testimony is entitled to the general credit of depositions 
taken "under duress." 

But among these documentary statements, in glorification of the 
humanity of the Great Republic, is one' on page 89, from Miss Dix, 
the grand female dry-nurse of Yankee Doodle (avIio, by the b}', 
gave, I understand, unpardonable offence to the pulchritude of 
Yankeedom, by i^ersistently refimng to employ any hut ugly xcomcn as 
nurses — the vampire) — which affirms that the prisoners at Point 
Lookout "were supplied with vegetables, with the best of wheat 
bread, and fresh and salt meat three times daily in abundant 
measure." 

Common gallantry forbids the characterization of this remarkable 
extract in harsher terms than to say that it is untrue in every par- 
ticular. 

It is quite likely that some Yankee official at Point Lookout 
made this statement to the benevolent itinerant, and her only fault 
may be in suppressing the fact that she "iras infortned" etc., etc. 
But it is altogether inexcusable in the Sanitary Commission to at- 
tempt to palm such a ftilsehood upon the world, knowing its falsity, 
as they must have done. For my part, I never saw any one get 
enough of any thing to eat at Point Lookout, except the soup, and 
a teaspoonful of that was too much for ordinary digestion. 

These digestive discomforts were greatly enhanced by the villain- 
ous character of the water, which is so impregnated with some 
mineral as to offend every nose, and induce diarrhoea in almost 
every alimentary canal. It colors every thing black in Avhich it is 
allowed to rest, and a scum rises on the top of a vessel if it is left 
standing during the night, which reflects the prismatic colors as 
distinctly as the surface of a stagnant jdooI. Several examinations 
of this water have been made by chemical analysis, as I was told 
by a Federal surgeon in the prison, and they have uniformly re- 
sulted in its condemnation by scientific men ; but the advantages 
of the position to the Yankees, as a prison pen, so greatly counter- 
balanced any claim of humanity, that Point Lookout t felt sure 
would remain a prison camp until the end of the war, especially as 
there are wells outside of "the Pen," which are not liable to these 
charges, the water of which is indeed perfectly pure and whole- 
some, so that the Yanks suffer no damage therefrom. Tlie ground 
was inclosed at Point Lookout for a prison in July, 1863, and the 
first instalment of prisoners arrived there on the 2oth of that 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 261 

month from the Old Capitol, Fort Delaware and Fort McHenry, 
some of the Gettysburg captures. One hundred and thirty-six 
arrived on the olst of the same month from Washington, and on 
the 10th of August another batch came from Baltimore, having 
been captured at Falling Waters. Every few weeks the number 
was increased, until they began to count by thousands. 

During the scorching summer, whose severity during the day is 
as great on that sand-barren as anywhere in the Union north of the 
Gulf, and through the hard winter, which is more severe at that 
point than anywhere in the country south of Boston, these poor 
fellows were confined here in open tents, on the naked ground, 
without a plank or a handful of straw between them and the heat 
or frost of the earth. 

And when, in the winter, a high tide and an easterly gale would 
flood the whole surface of the pen, and freeze as it flooded, the 
sufferings of the half-clad wretches, many accustomed to the almost 
vernal warmth of the Gulf, may easily be imagined. Many died 
outright, and many more will go to their graves crippled and 
racked with rheumatisms, which they date from the winter of 
1863-4. Even the well-clad sentinels, although relieved every 
thirty minutes (instead of every two hours, as is the army rule), 
perished in some instances, and in others lost their feet and hands, 
through the terrible cold of that season. 

During all this season the ration of wood allowed to each man 
was an arm-full for five days, and this had to cook for him as well 
as warm him, for at that time there were no public cook-houses 
and mess-rooms. , 

An additional refinement of cruelty was the regulation which 
always obtained at Point Lookout, and which I believe was peculiar 
to the prison, under which the Yanks stole from us any bed-clothing 
we might possess, beyond one blanket! This petty larceny was 
effected through an instrumentality they called inspections. Once in 
every ten days an inspection was ordered, when all the prisoners 
turned out in their respective divisions and companies in marching 
order. They ranged themselves in long lines between the rows of 
tents, with their blankets and haversacks — those being the only 
articles considered orthodox possessions of a rebel. A Yankee in- 
spected each man, taking away his extra blanket, if he had one, 
and appropriating any other sujierfluity he might chance to pos- 
sess ; and this accomplished, he visited the tents and seized every 
thing therein that under the convenient nomenclature of the Fed- 
erals was catalogued 'as "contraband" — blankets, boots, hats, any 
thing. The only way to avoid this was by a judicious use of 
greenbacks — and a trifle would suffice — it being true, with honora- 
ble exceptions, of course, that Yankee soldiers are very much like 
ships : to move them, you must " slush the ways." 

In the matter of clothing, the management at Point Lookout was 
simply infamous. You could receive nothing in the way of cloth- 
ing without giving up the corresponding article which you might 



262 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

chance to possess ; and so rigid was this regulation, that men who 
came there barefooted have been compelled to beg or buy a pair of 
worn-out shoes to carry to the office in lieu of a pair sent them hy 
their friends, before they could receive the latter. To what end 
this plundering was committed I could never ascertain, nor was I 
ever able to hear any better, or indeed any other reason advanced 
for it, than that the possession of extra clothing would enable the 
prisoners to bribe their guards ! Heaven help the virtue that a 
pair of second-hand Confederate breeches could seduce ! 

As I have mentioned the guards, and as this is a mosaic chapter, 
I may as well speak here as elsewhere of the method by which 
order was kej^t in camp. During the day, the platform around the 
pen was constantly paced by sentinels, chiefly of the Invalid (or, 
as it is now called, the Veteran Reserve) Corps, whose duty it was 
to see that the prisoners were orderly, and particularly, that no one 
crossed " the dead-line." This is a shallow ditch traced around 
within the inclosure, about fifteen feet from the fence. The penalty 
for stepping over this is death, and although the sentinels are pro- 
bably instructed to warn any one who may be violating the rule, 
the order does not seem to be imperative, and the negroes, when 
on duty, rarely, troubled themselves with this superfluous formality. 
Their Avarning was the click of the lock, sometimes the discharge 
of their muskets. These were on duty during my stay at the Point 
every third day, and their insolence and brutality were intolerable. 

Besides this detail of day-guard, which of course was preserved 
during the night, a patrol made the rounds constantly from "taps," 
the last horn at night, to "reveille." These were usually armed 
with pistols for greater convenience, and as they are shielded from 
scrutiny by the darkness, the indignities and cruelties they often- 
times inflicted on prisoners, who for any cause might be out of 
their tents between those hours, especially when the patrol were 
black, were outrageous. Many of these were of a character which 
could not by any periphrase be decently expressed — they Avere, 
however, precisely the acts which a set of vulgar brutes, suddenly 
invested with irresponsible authority, might be expected to take 
delight in ; and, as it was of course impossible to .recognize the 
perpetrators, redress was unattainable, even if one could brook the 
sneer and insult which would inevitably follow complaint. Indeed, 
most of the Yankees did not disg)iise their delight at the insolence 
of these Congoes. 

Under date of Thursday, June 16th, he writes : 

Saw to-day, for the first time, the chief provost-marshal, Major 
H. G. O. Weymouth. He is a handsome official, with ruddy face, 
a rather frank countenance, and a cork-leg. He conducts this es- 
tablishment on the ^' laisscz faire^^ principle — in short, he lets it 
alone severely. Whatever the abuses or complaints, or reforms, 
the only way to reach him is by communications through official 
channels, said channels being usually the authors of the abuses ! 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 263 

It may be easily computed how many documents of this descrip- 
tion would be likely to meet his eye. 

Two or three times a week he rides into camp with a sturdy 
knave behind him, at a respectful distance — makes the run of one 
or two streets, and is gone, and I presume sits down over a glass of 
brandy and water, and indites a most satisfactory report of the 
condition of the "rebs," for the perusal of his superior officer, or 
plies some credulous spinster with specious fictions about the com- 
fort, abundance, and general desirableness of Yankee prisons. 
The Major bears a bad reputation here, in the matter of money ; all 
of which, I presume, arises from the unreasonableness of the " rebs," 
who are not aware that they have no rights which Yankees are 
bound to respect. 

Friday, June 17th. — A salute of thirteen guns heralded this morn- 
ing the arrival of General Augur, who commands the department 
of Washington, About twelve M., the general, with a few other 
officials, made the tour of camp, performing, in the prevailing per- 
functory manner, the official duty of inspection. 

Nothing on earth can possibly be more ridiculous and absurd 
than the great majority of official inspections of all sorts ; but this 
" banged Bannagher." General Augur did not speak to a prisoner, 
enter a tent, peep into a mess-room, or, so far as I saw, take a 
single step to inform himself how the pen was managed. 

Weymouth probably fixed up a satisfactory report, however, 
when the general's brief exhibition of his new uniform to the 
appalled "rebs" wa's over. 

Visited all my comrades to-day, and, with one exception, found 
them all suffering like myself from exhausting diarrhoea, induced 
by the poisonous water. 

In his narrative of prison life at Elmira, after speaking in high 
terms of the kindly feeling towards the prisoners shown by Major 
Colt, the commandant of the prison, Mr. Keiley writes as follows : 

In the executive duties of his office. Major Colt was assisted by 
fifteen or twenty officers, and as many non-commissioned officers, 
chiefly of the militia or the veteran reserves. Among them were 
some characters which are worth a paragraph. 

There was a long-nosed, long-faced, long-jawed, long-bearded, 
long-bodied, long-legged, endless-footed, and long-skirted curiosity, 
yclept Captain Peck, ostensibly engaged in taking charge of certain 
companies of " rebs," but really employed in turning a penny by 
huckstering the various products of prisoners' skill — an occupation 
Tery profitable to Peck, but generally unsatisfactory, in a pecuniary 
way, to the " rebs." Many of them have told me of the impossi- 
bility of getting their just dues from the prying, round-shouldered 
captain, who had a snarl and an oath for every one out of whom 
he was not, at that instant, making money. 

Another rarity of the pen was Lieutenant John McC, a braw 



264 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

chiel frac the land o' cakes, who was a queer compound of good- 
nature and brutality. To some of us he was uniformly polite, but 
he had his pistol out on any occasion when dealing with the 
majority of the " Johnnies," and would fly into a passion over the 
merest nothing, that would have been exceedingly amusing, but 
for a wicked habit he had of laying about him with a stick, a tent 
pole — any thing that fell into his hands. He was opening a trench 
one day, through the camp, when, for the crime of stepj^ing across 
it, he forced a poor, sick boy, who was on his way to the dispensary 
for medicine, to leap backwards and forwards over it till he fell 
from exhaustion amid the voluble oaths of the valiant lieutenant. 
One Lieutenant R. kept McC. in countenance by following closely 
his example. He is a little comiDound of fice and weasel, and 
having charge of the cleaning up of the camp, has abundant op- 
portunities to bull}'- and insult, but being, fortunately, very far short 
of grenadier size, he docs not use his boot or fist as freely as his 
great exemplar. No one, however, was safe from either of them, 
who, however accidentally and innocently, fell in their way, physi- 
cally or metaphorically. 

Of the same block Captain Bowden was a chij) : a fair-haired, 
light-moustached, Saxon-faced "Yank" — far the worst type of 
man, let me tell you, yet discovered — whose whole intercourse with 
the prisoners was the essence of brutality. An illustration will 
paint him more thoroughly than a philippic'. A prisoner named 
Hale, belonging to the old Stonewall brigade, was discovered one 
day rather less sober than was allowable to any but the loyal, and 
Bowden being officer of the guard, arrested him and demanded 
where he got his liquor. This he refused to tell, as it would com- 
promise others, and any one but a Yankee would have put him in 
the guard-house, compelled him to wear a barrel shirt, or inflicted 
some punishment proportionate to his offence. All this would liave 
been very natural, but not Bowdenish, so this valorous Parolles 
determined to apply the torture to force a confession ! Hale was 
accordingly tied up by the thumbs — that is, his thumbs were 
fastened securely togetlier behind his back, and a rope being at- 
tached to the cord uniting them, it was passed over a cross bar 
over his head and hauled down, until it raised the sufferer so 
nearly off' the ground that the entire weight of his body was sus- 
tained by his thumbs, strained in an unnatural position, his toes 
merely touching the ground. The torture of this at the wrists and 
shoulder joints is exquisite, but Hale persisted in refusing to peach, 
and called on his fellow-prisoners, many of whom were witnesses 
of this refined villainy, to remember this when they got home. 
Bowden grew exasperated at his victim's fortitude, and determined 
to gag him. This he essayed to accomplish by fastening a heavy 
oak tent-pin in his mouth ; and when he would not open his mouth 
sufficiently — not an easy operation — he struck him in the face 
with the oaken billet, a blow which broke several of his teeth and 
covered his mouth with blood ! 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 265 

On the other hand, some of the officers were as humane and 
merciful as these wretches were brutal and cowardly, and all who 
were my fellow-prisoners will recall, Avith grateful remembrance, 
Captain Benjamin Hunger, Lieutenant Dalgleish, Sergeant-Major 
Rudd, Lieutenant McKee, Lieutenant Haverty, commissary of one 
of the regiments guarding us, a whole-souled Fenian, formerly in 
the book-business in New York, and still there probably, and one 
or two others. 

These officers were assigned in the proportion of one to every 
company at first, but to every three hundred or four hundred men 
afterwards, and were charged with the duty of superintending 
roll-calls, inspecting quarters, and seeing that the men under their 
charge got their rations ; and the system was excellent. 

During the month of July, four thousand three hundred and 
twenty-three prisoners were entered on the records of Elmira prison, 
and by the 29th of August, the date of the last arrivals, nine 
thousand six hundred and seven. 

The barrack accommodations did not suffice for quite half of 
them, and the remainder were provided with "A" tents, in which 
they continued to be housed when I left the prison in the middle 
of the following October, although the weather was piercingly cold. 
Thinly clad as they came from a summer's campaign, many of 
them without blankets, and without even a handful of straw be- 
tween them and the frozen earth, it \Yill surprise no one that the 
suffering, even at that early day, was considerable. 

As I left, however, the contributions of the Confederate Govern- 
ment, which, despairing of procuring an exchange, was taxing its 
exhausted energies to aid the prisoners, began to come in. 

An agent was in New York selling cotton for the purpose, and 
many boxes of blankets and coarse clothing were furnished from 
the proceeds of the sale. 

This tender regard was a happy contrast to the barbarity of 
Washington management, which seemed to feel the utmost in- 
difference to the sufferings of its soldiers, and embarrassed their 
exchange by every device of delay and every suggestion of stub- 
bornness. 

As I have spoken of the military government of Elmira prison, 
it may not be inappropriate to pursue the statistical view, now that 
I am in it, by a brief chapter on the Medical and Commissary 
Departments, before I resume the thread of the more personal 
portion of my narrative. 

The chief of the former department was a club-footed little gen- 
tleman, with an abnormal head and a snaky look in his eyes, 
named Major E. L. Sanger. On our arrival in Elmira, another 
surgeon, remarkable chiefly for his unaffected simplicity and virgin 
ignorance of everything appertaining to medicine, played doctor 
there. But as the prisoners increased in numbers, a more formal 
and formidable staff was organized, with Sanger at the head. 
<^^anger was simply a brute, as we found when we learned the 



266 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

whole truth about him from his own j)eople. If he had not avoided 
a court-martial by resigning his position, it is likely that even a 
military commission would have found it impossible to screen his 
brutality to the sick, although the fiict that the United States hanged 
no one for the massacre of Indian women and sucking infiints 
during the year 1865, inspires the fear that this systematic * * * * 
of Confederate prisoners would have been commended for his 
patriotism. 

He Avas assisted by Dr. Rider, of Rochester, one of the few 
" copperheads " whom I met in any office, great or small, at the 
North. My association was rather more intimate with him than 
with any one of the others, and I believe him to have been a com- 
petent and faithful officer. Personally, I acknowledge his many 
kindnesses with gratitude. The rest of the "meds" v>'ere, in truth, 
a motley crew in the main, most of them being selected from the 
impossibility, it would seem, of doing any thing else with them. 
I remember one of the worthies, whose miraculous length of leg 
and neck suggested "crane" to all observers, whose innocence of 
medicine was quite refreshing. On being sent for to prescribe for 
a prisoner, who was said to have bilious fever, he asked the drug- 
gist, a "reb," in the most naive manner, what was the usual treat- 
ment for that disease ! Fortunately, during his stay at Elmira, 
which was not long, there were no drugs in the dispensary, or I 
shudder to picture the consequences. This department was con- 
stantly undergoing changes, and I suspect that the wliole system 
was intended as part of the education of the young doctors assigned 
to us, for as soon as they learned to distinguish between quinine 
and magnesia they were removed to another field of labor. 

The whole camp was divided into wards, to which physicians 
were assigned, among whom were three "rebel" prisoners, Dr. 
Lynch, of Baltimore, Dr. Martin, of South Carolina, and Dr. 
Graham, formerly of Stonewall Jackson's staff", and a fellow-towns- 
man of the lamented hero. These ward physicians treated the 
simplest cases in their patients' barrack, and transferred the more 
dangerous ones to the hospitals, of which there were ten or twelve, 
capable of accommodating about eighty patients each. Here every 
arrangement was made that carpenters could make to insure the 
patients against unnecessary mortality, and, indeed, a system was 
professed which would have delighted the heart of a Sister of 
Charity ; but, alas! the practice was quite another thing. The most 
scandalous neglect prevailed even in so simple a matter as pro- 
viding ifood for the sick, and I do not doubt that many of those 
who died perished from actual starvation. 

One of the Petersburg prisoners having become so sick as to be 
sent to the hospital, he complained to his friends who visited him 
that he could get nothing to eat, and was dying in consequence, 
when they made application for leave to buy him some potatoes 
and roast them for him. Dr. S. not being consultei], the request 
was granted, and when, a few hours afterwards, the roj^ted potat. 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 267 

were brought in, the poor invalids on the neighboring cots crawled 
from their beds and begged the peelings to satisfy the hunger that 
was gnawing them. 

When complaint was made of this brutality to the sick, there 
was always a convenient official excuse. Sometimes the fault 
would be that a lazy doctor would not make out his provision re- 
turn in time, in which case his whole ward must go without food, 
or with an inadequate supply, till the next day. Another time 
there would be a difficulty between the chief surgeon and the com- 
missary, whose general relations were of the stripe characterized by 
S. P. Andrews as " cat-and-dogamy," which would result in the 
latter refusing to furnish the former with bread for the sick ! In 
almost all cases the ^''spiritus frumenti^^ failed to get to the patients, 
or in so small a quantity after the various tolls that it would not 
quicken the circulation of a canary. 

But the great fault, next to the scant supply of nourishment, was 
the inexcusable deficiency of medicine. During several weeks, in 
which dysentery and inflammation of the bowels were the preva- 
lent diseases in prison, there was not a grain of any preparation of 
opium in the dispensary, and many a poor fellow died for the want 
of a common medicine, which no family is ordinarily without — that 
is, if men ever die for want of drugs. 

There would be and is much excuse for such deficiencies in the 
South — and this is a matter which the Yankees studiously ignore — 
inasmuch as the blockade renders it impossible to procure any 
luxuries even for our own sick, and curtails and renders enor- 
mously expensive the supply of drugs of the simplest kind, pro- 
viding thej^are exotics; but in a nation whose boast it is that they 
do not feel the war, with the world open to them and supjDlies of 
all sorts wonderfully abundant, it is simply infamous to starve the 
sick as they did there, and equally discreditable to deny them 
medicines — indispensable according to Esculapian traditions. The 
result of the ignorance of the doctors, and the sparseness of these 
supplies, was soon apparent in the shocking mortality of this camp, 
notwithstanding the healthfulness claimed for the situation. This 
exceeded even the reported mortality at Andersonville, great as 
that was, and disgraceful as it was to our government, if it resulted 
from causes which were within its control. 

I know the reader, if a Northern man, will deny this, and point 
to the record of the Wirz trial. I object to the testimony. There 
never was, in all time, such a mass of lies as that evidence, for the 
most part, could have been proved to be if it had been possible to 
sift the testimony or examine, before a jury, the witnesses. I take, 
as the basis of my comparison, the published report made by four 
returned Andersonville prisoners, who were allowed to come North 
on their representation that they could induce their humane Go- 
vernment to assent to an exchange. Vana spes. Edwin M. Stanton 
would have seen the whole of them die before he would give 
General Lee one able-bodied soldier. 



268 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

These prisoners alleged (I quote from memory) that out of a 
population of about thirty-six thousand at that pen, six thousand, 
or one-sixth of the whole, died between the first of February and the 
first of August, 1864. Now at Elmira the quota was not made up 
till the last of August, so that September -was the first month 
during ■which any fair estimate of the mortality of the camp could 
be made. Now, out of less than nine thousand five hundred 

PRISONERS ON THE FIRST OF SEPTEMBER, THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY- 
SIX DIED THAT MONTH. 

At Andersonville the mortality averaged a thousand a month 
out of thirty-six thousand, or one thirty-sixth. At Elmira it was 
three hundred and eight3''-six, out of nine thousand five hundred, 
or one twenty-fijth of the whole. At Elmira it was four per cent.; at 
Andersonville, less than three per cent. If the mortality at Ander- 
sonville had been as great as at Elmira, the deaths should have 
been one thousand four hundred and forty per month, or fifty per 
cent, more than they were. 

I speak by the card respecting these matters, having kept the 
morning return of deaths for the last month and a half of my life 
in Elmira, and transferred the figures to my diary, which lies be- 
fore me; and this, be it remembered, in a country where food was 
cheap and abundant; where all the appliances of the remedial art 
were to be had on mere requisition ; where there was no military 
necessity requiring the government to sacrifice almost every con- 
sideration to the inaccessibility of the prison, and the securing of 
the prisoners, and where Nature had furnished every possible re- 
quisite for salubrity. 

And now that I am speaking of the death-record, I will jot down 
two ratlier singular facts in connection therewith. 

The first was the unusual mortality among the prisoners from 
North Carolina. In my diary I find several entries like the follow- 
ing : 

Monday, October M. — Deaths yesterday, 16, of whom 11 N. C. 
Tuesday, October A.th. — Deaths j'csterday, 14, of whom 7 N. C. 

Now, the proportion of North Carolinians was nothing, even ap- 
proximating what might have been expected from this record. I 
commit the fact to Mr. Gradgrind. Can it be explained by the 
great attachment the people of that State have for their homes? 

The second was the absolute absence of any death from inter- 
mittent fever or any analogous disease. 

Now I knew wellthat many of the sick died from this and kindred 
diseases produced by the miasma of the stagnant lake in our 
camp; but the reports, which I consolidated every morning, con- 
tained no reference to them. I inquired at the dispensary, where 
the reports were first handed in, tlio cause of this anomaly, and 
learned that Dr. Sanger would sign no report which ascribed to any of 
these diseases the death of the patient! I concluded that he must have 
committed himself to the harmlessness of the lagoon in question, 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 269 

and determined to preserve his consistency at the expense of our 
lives — very much after tlie fashion of that illustrious ornament of 
the profession, Dr. Sangrado, who continued his warm water and 
phlebotomy merely because he had written a book in praise of 
that i^ractice, although " in six weeks he made more widows and 
orphans than the siege of Troy." 

I could hardly help visiting on Dr. Sanger the reproaches his 
predecessor received at the hands of the persecuted people of Val- 
ladolid, who "were sometimes very brutal in their grief," and called 
the doctor and Gil Bias no more euphonious name than "ignorant 
assassins." 

Any post in the medical department in a Yankee prison-camp is 
quite valuable on account of the opportunities of ])1 under it affords, 
and many of the virtuous "meds" made extensive use of their ad- 
vantages. Vast quantities of quinine were prescribed that were 
never taken, the price (eight dollars an ounce) tempting the cupidity 
of the physicians beyond all resistance; but the grand speculation 
was in whiskey, which was supplied to the dispensary in large 
quantities, and could be obtained for a consideration in any reason- 
able amount from a "steward" who pervaded that establishment. 

I ought not to dismiss this portion of my description of matters 
medical without adding that the better class of officers in the pen 
were loud and indignant in their reproaches of Sanger's systematic 
inhumanity to the sick, and that they affirmed that he avowed his 
determination to stint these poor helpless creatures in retaliation 
for alleged neglect on the part of our authorities ! And when at 
last, on the 21st of September, I carried my report up to the major's 
tentj.Avith the ghastly record of tavexty-nine deaths yesterday, 
the storm gathered, which in a few weeks drove him from the pen, 
but which never would have had that effect if he had not, by his 
rudeness, attained the ill-will of nearly every officer about the pen 
whose good-will was worth having. 

I ascend from pills to provender. 

The commissary department was under the charge of a cute, 
active ex-bank officer, Captain.G. C. Whiton. The ration of bread 
was usually a full pound 'per diem, forty-five bi;rrels of flour being 
converted daily into loaves in the bake-shop on the premises. The 
meat-ration, on the other hand, was invariably scanty; and I 
learned, on inquiry, that the fresh beef sent to the prison usually 
fell short from one thousand to twelve hundred pounds in each 
consignment. Of course when this happened many had to lose a 
large portion of their allowance; and sometimes it happened that 
the same man got bones only for several successive days. The ex- 
pedients resorted to by the men to supply this want of animal food 
were disgusting. Many found an acceptable substitute in rats, with 
which the place abounded ; and these Chinese delicacies commanded 
an average price of about four cents apiece — in greenbacks. I have 
seen scores of them in various states of preparation, and have been 
assured by those who indulged in them that worse things have been 
I eaten — an estimate of their value that I took on trust. 



270 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

Others found in the barrels of refuse fat, which were accumulated 
at the cook-house, and in the pickings of the bones, which were 
cut out of the meat and tlirown out in a dirty heap back of tha 
kitchen, to be removed once a week, the means of satisfying the 
craving for meat, which rations would not satisfy. I have seen a 
mob of hungry "rebs" besiege the bone-cart, and beg from the 
driver fragments on which an August sun had been burning for 
several days, until the impenetrable nose of a Congo could hardly 
have endured them. 

Twice a day the camp poured its thousands into the mess-rooms, 
where each man's ration was assigned him ; and twice a day the 
aforesaid rations were characterized by disappointed "rebs" in 
language not to be found in a prayer-book. Those whose appetite 
was stronger than their apprehensions frequently contrived to sup- 
ply their wants by "flanking" — a performance which consisted in 
joining two or more companies as they successively went to the 
mess-rooms, or in quietly sweeping up a ration as the company filed 
down the table. As every ration so flanked was, however, obtained 
at the expense of some helpless fellow-prisoner, who must lose that 
meal, the practice was almost universally frowned upon; and the 
criminal, when discovered, as was frequently the case, was subjected 
to instant punishment. 

This was either confinement in the guard^house, solitary confine- 
ment on bread and water, the " sweat-box " or the barrel-shirt. The 
war has made all these terms familiar, except the third, perhaps; 
by it I mean a wooden box, about seven feet high, twenty inches ' 
wide and twelve deep, which was placed on end in front of the 
major's tent. Few could stand in this without elevating* the 
shoulders considerably; and when the door was fastened all motion 
was out of the question. The prisoner had to stand with his limbs 
rigid and immovable until the jailer opened the door, and it was 
far the most dreaded of the %)emes fortes et dures of the pen. In 
midsummer, I can fancy that a couple of hours in such a coffin 
would inspire Tartuffe himself with virtuous thoughts, especially 
if his avoirdupois was at all respectaible. 

Rev. Dr. I. W. K. Handy, of the Presbyterian Church of Virginia, 
who was arrested on an utterly frivilous charge and made a prisoner 
at Fort Delaware, and whose evangelical labors among the 
prisoners were so greatly blessed, has published a volume of 670 
pages, entitled "United States Bonds," in which he gives a vivid 
account of the indignities, cruelties and sufferings to which the 
prisoners there were subjected. We regret that we have only space 
for a brief extract. Under date of November the 6th, 1863, Dr. 
Handy thus writes in his diary : 

A letter is found in the Philadelphia Inquirer of to-day, giving a 
terrible account of the sufferings of the Yankee prisoners at Rich- 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 271 

mond. The statement is, palpably, exaggerated and highly colored, 
and bears the impress of prejudice and great effort for effect. Al- 
most every illustration adduced in the article will apply to Fort 
Delaware, and to these may be added instances of individual cruelty 
and oppression, which would put to shame the unscrupulous state- 
ments of this writer, who claims to have been a Federal chaplain. 

It has not been uncommon here for our half-clothed, half- fed 
Confederates at the barracks to be ordered about in the coarsest and 
roughest manner by their inferiors, and to be knocked on the head 
with sticks, or to be stuck with bayonets, for the slightest offences; 
and, sometimes (for no crime whatever), men have been shot at or 
cruelly murdered by sentinels, who bore malice, and justified them- 
selves upon the plea that they were trying to prevent escapes. Sick 
men have been kept at the barracks until perfectly emaciated from 
diarrhoea, without the necessary sick vessels, and have been obliged 
to stagger, through the quarters, to the out-house on the bank of 
the river, with filth streaming upon their legs; and then, unable to 
help themselves, they have fallen upon the pathway, and have been 
found dead in the morning — victims of cruel neglect. Barefooted, 
bareheaded and ragged men, tottering with disease, have been left 
to suffer long for the necessary clothing or medicines, which might 
have been abundantly supplied; men scarcely convalescent have 
been made to walk from one end of the Island to the other in chang- 
ing hospitals, thus bringing on a relapse in almost every case, and 
have died in a few days thereafter. Physicians, in contract service, 
have gone daily into the hospitals, saturated with liquor, and with- 
out looking at the tongue or feeling the pulse, have tantalized the 
poor sufferers with the prescription, "Oh, you must eat! You must 
eat!" and without either furnishing them with medicine or meat, 
have left them to die. Sick men, on entering the hospitals, have 
been denuded of their clothing, and when getting a little better, 
have been forced to walk over damp floors in their stocking-feet 
and drawers to the water closet, at a remote end of the building — 
thus exposing themselves to cold and the danger of a relapse. Men 
have been dismissed from the hospitals to go to Point Lookout 
without hat, shoes or blanket; hundreds have been exposed to the . 
danger of contracting the small-pox from coffins filled with loath- 
some bodies, left for hours together on the wharf, whilst prisoners 
have been embarking for exchange; the dispensary has remained 
not only for days, but for weeks together, without some of 
the most important and common medicines ; prisoners have been 
"bucked and gagged" for the most trivial offences; and the very 
dead have been robbed of their last shirts, placed in rough coffins, 
perfectly naked, and then hurried into shallow, unmarked graves. 

Much of all this cruelty and inhumanity may not have been de- 
signed by those highest in authority, and had they known it, might 
not have received their sanction, but it has occurred under their 
administration, and they are, to a greater or less extent, accountable 
for it all. Were full details given in relation to these matters, they 



272 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

would be astounding and perhaps incredible. In this place they 
are referred to with no disposition to exaggerate, nor to prejudice. 
Some of them could not, perhaps, have been well avoided, but are 
recorded simply as an offset to the " Chaplain's " details. 

The murder of Colonel E. P. Jones by a sentinel is thus described 
by Dr. Hardy in his (Mary, under date of July 3d, 1864; 

A lamentable affair occured at "the rear," about dusk, this even- 
ing. Many persons are now suffering with diarrhoea, and crowds 
are frequenting that neighborhood. The orders are to go by one 
path and return by the other. Two lines of men, going and 
coming, are in continual movement. I was returning from the fre- 
quented spot and, in much Aveakness, making my way back, when, 
suddenly, I heard the sentinel challenge from the top of the water- 
house. I had no idea he Avas sj^eaking to me, until some friends 
called my attention to the order. I suppose my pace Avas too slow 
for him. I passed on; and as frequent inquiries Avere made in re- 
gard to my health, I was obliged to say to friends, " we have no 
time to talk ; the sentinel is evidently restless or alarmed, and we 
are in danger." 

I had scarcely reached my quarters, before a musket fired ; and 
it was, immediately, reported that Colonel E. P. Jones had been 
shot. 

The murder of Colonel Jones is the meanest, and most inex- 
cusable affair that has occurred in the officers' quarters ; or that 
has come under my own observation since my imprisonment at 
Fort DelaAvare. I did not see him fall ; but have learned from 
Captain J. B. Cole, Avho Avas an eye-witness to the Avhole scene, that 
although he Avas standing AA'ithin ten steps of the man that killed 
him, he heard no challenge, nor any order to mo\^e on. The first 
intimation he had of the sentinel's displeasure Avas the discharge 
of the musket, and the simultaneous exclamation of the Colonel — 
"Oh, God! Oh, God! My God, what did you shoot me for? Why 
didn't you tell me to go on? I never heard you say anything to 
me ! " — and Avith a few such exclamations, he sank upon the ground ; 
and then fell, or rather rolled, doAvn the embankment. 

Colonel Jones has been in the barracks so short a time, that I 
have not had the pleasure of making his acquaintance. I have 
only learned that he is an intelligent physician, of considerable 
property and influence, and that he is from Middlesex county, 
Virginia. Since he came to Fort DelaAvare, he has been, constantly, 
suffering with some affection of the feet, causing lameness. 

At the time he was shot, he was hobbling along, AAdth one shoe, 
and Avas carefully stepping doAvn a rough place, near the water- 
house, buttoning his pants. He could not have been more than 
twenty steps from the point of the musket. It is said that the 
murderer seemed, all day, to be seeking an opportunity to shoot 
some one. It is also rejiorted that Captain Ahl Avas seen on the 
top of the shanty, giving some orders, only a few moments before 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War, 273 

the catastrophe. These are all the facts that I can learn, concern- 
ing this melancholy affair, except that Colonel Jones has been taken 
to the hospital, and that there is no prospect of his recovery. 

Friday, 8th. — The boy who shot Colonel Jones is again on guard, 
this morning; and it is reported that he has been promoted to a 
corporalcy. He belongs, I think, to an Ohio regiment, is about 
eighteen years old, and is known as "Bill Douglas." 

Unusual watchfulness prevailed during the night. New sentinels 
were on guard, in every direction. A noisy fellow tramped under 
my window until daylight. Guards have been posted inside of 
"the pen," and everything indicates apprehension, on the part of 
the Yankees, and danger to the prisoners. 

General Schoei^f visited "the pen," accompanied by Caj)tain Ahl, 
and other officers. They were evidently excited, and moved 
quickly from j^lace to place. Some of the officers were anxious to 
have an interview, and pressed upon them for a word. I succeed- 
ed in halting the General, and spoke to him myself, about the reck- 
lessness of the sentinels, and the great danger to which I was 
personally exposed just before the shooting last night. He referred 
to the repeated attemjots which had, lately, been made to effect 
escape; spoke decidedly of his purpose to put a stop to the whole 
thing; and excused the guards. "They shoot down any man, "said 
he, "who tries to get away." 

Captain Ahl averred that Colonel Jones had been challenged ; 
and justified the sentinel. Several bystanders insisted, that he was 
quietly returning from " the rear," and that there was no cause for 
the murder. Ahl affirmed that he was near by when the shooting 
took place, and that he had ordered the sentinel to fire at the first 
man that stopped on the thoroughfare. 

I appealed to General Schoepf, to hear a statement of the case ; 
and told him that I had always suj^posed him to be a humane 
officer, and disposed to do what was right. He was evidently 
embarrassed by the presence of Ahl; and nervously moved off 
towards the gate, followed by his attendants. He was there sur- 
rounded by another company of prisoners, who tried to get an au- 
dience. He refused to hear them ; and referred them to " Dr. Handy," 
urging as he went out — "He knows I want to do right." 

Colonel Jones lingered a few hours, and died in great agony. * 
Dr. Handy has kindly placed in our hands his private letter-book 
' containing a large number of statements of prison experience by 
his fellow-prisoners. We can only extract one of these. 

STATEMENT OP EEV. GEORGE HARRIS, OF UPPERVILLE, VIRGINIA. 

On the morning of the 30th of August our quiet village was 
thrown into excitement by a report of the approach of Yankees. 
From the fact that private citizens had recently been arrested and 
carried from their homes by raiding parties, nearly every male 
inhabitant of the village felt it to be unsafe to remain at home; 
3 



274 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

and I have reason to believe that I was the only man left in town 
upon their arrival. I relied upon my sacred calling for security 
from molestation, and as usual awaited in my own house their 
coming. Shortly after their arrival, I observed a man coming 
around my house to the hack door, as though ashamed to approach 
by the front entrance, and according to my usual custom, I ad- 
vanced to meet him and learn his business, when the following 
conversation ensued : 

Yankee. Are you the man of this house? 

Answer. I am. 

Yankee. What's yer name ? ' 

Answer. My name is Harris; what is yours? 

Yankee. My name? Why my name is . 

Then looking around, he espied some of the servants in the 
kitchen, a detached building, and awkwardly moved ofi' to see 
them. I returned to my seat at my secretary and resumed my 
occupation of reading. In a few minutes he returned, and leaning 
against the lintel of the door, said: "Guess you can go with me." 
"Go with you," said I; "Where shall I go with you?" "Up to 
headquarters." I arose, took my cane, and walked about a quarter 
of a mile to the main body of the command. The first officer with 
whom I met was a brainless, conceited Lieutenant, whose name I 
never learned. He, without any kind of salutation, accosted me 
in a manner meant to be extremely scornful, and asked why I had 
not sent Mosby word they were coming and wanted to meet him. 
I said to him, "Sir, if you really wished to see Mosby, and desired 
me to notify him of your coming, why did you not inform me of 
the fact in time?" "Do you think he would have come?" he 
queried. "It is extremely probable he would," I replied. He 
ordered me then to be conducted to the Major. I was taken up to 
his quarters, and there learned that the Eighth Illinois Cavalry, 
commanded by Major Waite, a little dapper newspaper corres- 
pondent formerly, as I have learned, were my captors. I demanded 
of this man the cause of my arrest. He replied that he was carry- 
ing out his instructions. I asked if I might know what those in- 
structions were. He said, to arrest all men between seventeen and 
fifty. I reminded him that I was a minister of the gospel, and 
not subject to military duty. He replied, that if upon my arrival 
in 'Washington that fact should appear, I would be released. He 
•ordered me to be taken to a Captain Townsend, who had charge of f 
the prisoners. I declared my purpose to return home for a change 
of underclothing before I would consent to go, and he might use 
his pleasure either to take my pledge to return, or to send a man 
with me as a guard. Yankee-like, he preferred the latter alternative, " 
as, having no such regard for his own word as to prefer faithfulness ' 
to a pledge to life itself, he could not believe it to be a trait in the f 
character of any other. 

I was obliged to make my few preparations in the most hurried 
manner, and having commended my family to God, I proceeded 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 275 

to report myself to my captors again. I found on my return that 
a large number of citizens had been picked up, among the rest, 
General Asa Rogers, a gentleman over sixty years of age, and Rev. 
0. A. Kinsolving, of the Episcopal church. We were inoved off, I 
suppose, about 2 P. M., and proceeded to Aldie, about thirteen 
miles. Here we halted, and immediately the men scattered to 
plunder, and every hen-roost in the village was despoiled in a few 
minutes. Women and children were running through the streets, 
some screaming, all looking for officers to protect them. Of the 
nature and extent of their depredations we could only judge by 
the declarations of such as passed us; all were crying that they 
were being robbed of everything they had. After remaining here 
long enough to sack the village completely, they hurried us on to 
Mt. Zion Meeting House, five miles below Aldie, where we bivou- 
acked on the ground, without blankets, and only a few hard crack- 
ers — all any of us had had since morning — for supper. The 
following morning they issued to us more of the " hard-tack," as 
they termed it, and some salt pork, which we broiled by sticking 
it upon the ends of twigs and holding in the blaze of the fire. 

As soon as breakfast was over we were once more on the road, 

and at a most rapid pace. Proceeding nearly to Drainesville, the 

I rear of the column was fired upon, when our gallant Major, dread- 

^ ing an ambuscade, tacked nearly right about, and at an increased 

speed proceeded nearly to Fairfax Courthouse, and then turning 

, again toward the Potomac, carried us on to Falls Church, halting 

jonly about an hour in a very strong position to feed their horses. 

jThus these gallant fellows who, about 700 strong, had started out, 

as they said, expressly to catch Mosby, succeeded in capturing 

jthirty-two citizens^ in stealing some twenty-five horses, robbing pri- 

/ vate citizens along the whole line of their march of all kinds of 

/ supplies, and through fear of an attack made, on their return, a 

march of not less than forty-five or fifty miles in one day. On the 

morning of September 1st, Major Waite took occasion to insult us 

by his profane language and vain boasting of what he had done 

and was yet to do. His pickets being fired on, however, the camp 

was thrown into the utmost commotion, and we were hurried off 

again toward Washington. 

Owing to various delays, we were not brought to Washington 
until afternoon. Near the city we were turned over .to Captain 
Berry and Lieutenant Trask, who treated us with the utmost polite- 
ness, and seemed desirous to do all in their power to oblige us and 
render us comfortable. On arriving in the city we were remanded 
to the Old Capitol Prison, and paraded through the streets to show 
to the good and loyal citizens of the capital of "the greatest nation 
on earth," that the "good work was going bravely on." At the Old 
Capitol our fare was horrible for several days; the meat given us 
was putrid, and few of us could eat our bread with the meat before 
us. A change for the better, however, took place pretty soon after 
we had an interview with the superintendent, and the fare became 



276 Southern Historical Society Pampers. 

pretty palatable. We were shown many indulgencies, too, until it 
was ascertained that the most of us would not even take a parole 
such as they were administering to many citizen prisoners ; when 
suddenly we were informed that we were to be sent off to Fort 
Delaware, to be subjected at that abode of horrors to severe treat- 
ment in retaliation' for treatment of a similar character alleged to 
have been extended to citizens of the North in Southern prisons. 
And here we are, exposed in a degree that threatens seriously our 
health if not the lives of some of our party. But "hitherto hath 
the Lord helped us," and in Him is our trust; we will not fear what 
man can do unto us. 

Mr. Harris, one the most devoted and useful ministers in Vir- 
ginia," contracted disease at Fort Delaware, from which he was a 
great' sufferer until, a few years after the war, death came to "set 
the prisoner free." 

The following deposition of Mr. T. D. Henry was originally 
written at Oak Grove, Kentucky, in 1866, and was sent to us a few 
weeks ago : 

DEPOSITION OF T. D. HEXKY. 

Seeincr that the Congress of the United States has appointed a 
committee to investigate the treatment of • Federal prisoners in 
Southern prisons, I have determined, in my feeble manner, to give 
an account of what I saw and know to be true, as happening in 
Federal prisons. I was captured with General Morgan at Salen- 
ville Ohio July 26th, 1863. After capture was carried to Camp 
Chase Ohio where I remained about one month. I was then, to- 
crether with all the prisoners at that place, carried to Camp Douglas, II- 
Hnois Prison life from September 1863, until the 12th ot April 
1864 was comparatively such as a man who, according to the fates 
of w'ar had been captured might expect, especially when a captive 
of a boasted Christian nation. Rations were of very good quality 
and quantity, the only thing unpleasant w.as the various and severe 
nunishments which the commandant of the camp (Colonel C. V. 
Deland) saw fit to inflict. If you bribed one of his guards or es- 
caned by any other means, and was afterwards recaptured and 
brouo-ht back, he would liave you tied up by the thumbs .lUst so as 
the tSe would reach the ground. I have known men punished thus 
until they would grow so deathly sick that they would vomit all 
over themselves, their heads fall forward and almost every sign of life 
become extinct ; the ends of their thumbs would burst open ; a surgeon 
Standing by would feel their pulse and say he thought they could 
stand it a little longer. Sometimes he would say they had better 
be cut down. If this failed to cause them to tell ^yho assisted 
them in escaping, they were then thrown into an iron-clad dungeon 
ten bv ten square, with a single window ten inches by ten. IhmJc 
of a man staying in this place forty or fifty days, when it was as 
full as it could be, their only privy being a little hole m tlie floor, 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 277 

from which all the odor arose in the room. When this failed a 
sixty-four pound ball and chain was placed upon their leg, with 
chain so short as to compel its wearer to carry the ball in their 
hand, or get some one to pull it in a little wagon while they walked at 
the side, the chain about twenty-eight inches in length. Some of the 
balls were worn more than six months. A great many escaped by 
tunneling. On one occasion a tunnel was discovered under the barrack 
occupied by (Cluke's regiment) the eighth Kentucky cavalry. With- 
out trying to find out who dug the tunnel, the whole regiment was 
formed in column of eight deep, and a guard placed around them with 
instructions to shoot the first man who sat down ; this was just after 
sun up ; at two o'clock a man who had just returned the day before 
from the small-pox hospital, unable to stand longer fell ; a guard 
saw him and fired ; one man was killed dead, two others were 
wounded, one of them losing an arm, as it was afterwards cut off. 
This same fellow, who did the shooting, was promoted to a corporal's 
position, whether for this act or not, it is impossible to say, for he 
affirmed that he would not take $100 for his gun, as that was the 
eleventh prisoner he had shot with it. This shooting was carried 
to such an extent that if a man in going from his barrack to the 
privy should stop at night he was shot at. If more than five were 
seen together in the day,:^or if two at night, the same thing occurred. 
If any one was heard to whisper at night, or the least ray of light 
was seen, the guard would fire into the barracks at once. In each 
barrack there was only two stoves to two hundred men, and for a 
stove to warm one hundred men, it was frequently red hot. When 
taps were sounded {i. e. "lights out") the fire in the stoves could 
not be put out immediately. The boys were afraid to go to the 
stove, for some one was nightly killed in the attempt to extinguish 
the light. A ball fired from a gun which would ordinarily shoot 
a thousand yards, would, when fired at a close object, go through 
three or four barracks, sometimes flattening itself against the bar- 
rack, more often burying itself in the vitals of some sleeper, who 
little thought that that was to be his last sleep on this earth. On 
one occasion as the flag which floated in front of the commandant's 
quarters was being hoisted the rope broke, letting the flag fall, 
which being seen by the regiment to which I belonged (second 
Kentucky cavalry), a terrific yell was given. This so incensed the 
Yankees that a certain valiant Captain, Gaffeny by name, marched 
his company, some eighty strong, up to our barracks; had the 
regiment formed and went up and down the line kicking the men, 
and swearing that his company, about eighty strong, could whip the 
Avhole camp of about five thousand. 

About this time Colonel Deland was ordered to the front. He 
was succeeded by Colonel B. J. Sweet as commandant of camp, 
Colonel Skinner as commissary of prisoners, and a fiend named 
Captain Webb Sponable as inspector of prisoners. 
I From this time forward the darkest leaf in the legends of all 
: tyranny could not possibly contain a greater number of punish- 
' ments. 



278 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

Our wliole camp was rearranged ; tlie parapet guard were ordered 
not to fire unless some one tried to escape ; a police guard was 
placed in the prison to do all the devilment which the infernally 
fertile mind of Captain Sponable could invent; starvation was 
carried on quite systematically. Our rations for breakfast consisted 
of five ounces of bread and six ounces of fresh beef. As the rations 
for two hundred men were boiled in a sixty-gallon kettle, it was 
necessary in order to cook it done, to boil it to shreds. In fact there 
was no more nutritious matter in it than in an old dish cloth , for 
dinner one pint bean soup and five ounces of bread, this was our 
living. This was not regularly issued, for the slightest offence 
would cause the captain's direful anger to be aroused, and as he 
would make most by stopping our rations this was quite a favorite 
punishment. 

His mildest punishment was to get a scantling two inches wide, 
shave it down until it was only half inch thick on top and put legs 
about seventeen feet long to it. (This horse, when finished, was 
called Morgan). Now, for the slight ofi'ence of looking at a guard 
the boys have been placed on this horse for hours, their feet hanging 
down. Sometimes the Yanks would laugh and aay, I will give you 
a pair of spurs, which was a bucket of sand tied to each foot; also 
to set the boys astraddle the roof of a dog house. I have seen men 
who had been left in this condition until the skin and flesh was 
cut nearly to the bone. Men in the winter Avould get so cold that 
they would fall off". When warmed they were put back. Another 
slight punishment was to saw a barrel in two, cut a hole in one 
end so as to allow a man's head to go through, but leave the barrel 
around his shoulders, then march him in the sun until the rays 
reflected from the barrel would swell his head almost twice its 
natural size. I have seen men's faces peel all over from this in- 
nocent amusement of the guards. 

If the least sign of water or spit was seen on the floor the order 
was, "Come, go to the horse or point for grub," which was to stand 
with the legs perfectl}^ straight, reach over, and touch the ground 
with the fingers. If the legs were bent in the least, a guard w^as 
present with a paddle, which he well knew how to use. When the 
guards grew weary of this punishment, anotlier was to make the 
men pull down their pants and sit, with nothing under them, on 
the snow and frozen ground. I have known men to be kept sitting 
until you could see their prints for some days afterwards in the 
snow and ice. When they got weary of this, they commenced 
whipping, making the men lay on a barrel, and using their belts, 
which had a leaden clasp with sharp edge, the belt would often 
gather wind so as to turn the clasp edgeways ; every lick inflicted 
thus cut entirely through the skin. 

If more than five men Avere seen together, or if anyone was heard 
to whisper or spit upon the floor, it was certain to be followed by 
one of these punishments. Frequently men sick in barracks were 
delirious ; sometimes one or two in a barrack were crazy. These 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 279 

•were the cause of a whole barrack of men being mounted on a 
horse or punished in other ways. Sometimes a guard would come 
in, and swear he heard some one whispering. He would make 
four or five men get up, with nothing but their underclothes to pro- 
tect them against a climate where the thermometer stood twenty 
degrees below zero. Shooting about this time was less frequent. 
The fiends were satisfied with such punishment as Avould most 
likel}^ end in death. At this period we were reinforced by the 
prisoners captured in front of Nashville. They, after being cooped 
up in the cars four or five days, were nearly dead for water. The 
hydrants were frozen up, and we had eaten all the snow inside the 
prison. The poor fellows would lay down at or as close to the 
dead-line as possible, and reach their arm through and pull the 
snow to them. I saw one of the guards standing twenty-five steps 
from a prisoner thus engaged shoot at him three times. Fortunately 
the police guards were armed with pistols; had it been a rifle the 
poor fellow must have died the first shot. 

Think of a man's mind being racked by all of these punishments, 
for the innocent suffered as well as the guilty, and as frequently, 
when no one was to blame, were all punished; and it is almost a 
miracle that anyone should have remained there twenty months 
without losing his reason. 

T. D. Henry, 
Company E, Duke's Regiment, Second Kentucky Cavalry, General J. 
H. Morgan's command. 

Sworn to before me this third day of March, 1876. 

Will. A. Harms, 
Notary Public in and for San Bernardino county, State of California. 

The following statement of Major Robert Stiles of Richmond 
Virginia, will be received by his large circle of friends and acquaint- 
ances as the testimony of a gentleman "without fear and without 
rejDroach." 

STATEMENT OF MAJOR ROBERT STILES. 

I was a prisoner of war at Johnson's Island and Fort Lafayette 
from April to October, 1865, having been captured at Sailor's creek. 
During this time I did not suffer seriously to my own person from 
bad treatment, but saw and heard no little of the suffering of 
others. 

The Southern field officers were released from Johnson's Island in 
May or June, but I was held a prisoner because I declined to take 
the somewhat remarkable oath propounded to us, and refused to 
give in addition my word of honor that I would say nothing 
against the Government of the United States. 

At Johnson's Island all the formidable nomenclature and enginery 
of prison discipline were in vogue. We had our " dead line " within 
and up some distance from the tall fence which formed " the pen," 



280 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

which hne, if a prisoner crossed, the guard, posted on a plank walk 
near the top of the fence, was uiKier orders to fire upon him. We had 
our ^^ lights ouV — after which, if, for any cause, a lamp or fire was 
lit, the guard had orders to fire upon the offending light. These 
orders were sometimes executed with fatal result; and it was cur- 
rently reported that at least one man of the guard had been pro- 
moted to a sergeantcy, for killing a wretched prisoner who, unable to 
endure the frightful cold, had risen to kindle a fire. We had our 
'■^ hlack-hole^^ in which "refractory" prisoners were punished, solitary, 
dark, damp and cramped. 

At this, as at all other Federal prisons, the rations of prisoners 
were at sundry times reduced below the amount confessedly indis- 
pensable to the maintenance of a man in full health — in retaliation 
as was alleged for the starvation of Federal prisoners in Confederate 
prisons. During my stay on the Island, the war being substantially 
over, the discipline and management were more liberal, and the 
ration, though meagre, larger than it had been; the sutler, too, 
was open, and the few prisoners fortunate enough to obtain money 
lived reasonally well, but the majority still suffered from lack of 
food. After being an inmate of the pen for a few days and observing 
the really pitiful hunger and destitution, I organized a system of 
collection from the messes who had money, and patronized the sut- 
ler and distribution among the less favored who starved on the prison 
ration. I fed from a hundred to a hundred and fifty men every 
day, and this moment can well recall the scene at the daily distri- 
bution. I would form them in line, count them oft' in squads or 
messes of ten, appointing an orderly for each mess, and then 
separating my provisions, consisting of scraps more or less frag- 
mentary, into as many piles as there were orderlies, deliver one 
pile to each orderly for distribution among his mess. After this 
was done the poor fellows would break ranks and scuffle on the 
bare ground under the table for the crumbs. These men were all 
officers of the Confederate armies — most of them field officers. 

The clothing issued to our prisoners was quite as scanty as the 
rations, the post surgeon's certificate, that it was absolutely necessary 
in each individual case, being required to entitle a man to an over- 
coat — and that for Southern men exiled on a bleak island swej^tby 
chill tempests, with the thermometer frequently more than twenty 
degrees below zero. In order to get one of these certificates, a man 
was required to stand in line in the open air scantily clad, waiting 
his time to enter the surgeon's office and submit to an examination 
to test the condition of liis lungs, &c. It can readily be imagined 
how many were saved from pneumonia and consumption by this 
humane distribution of overcoats. It is well known that the sup- 
ply of blankets was totally inadequate until the offer of our Gov- 
erment to trade cotton for clothing for our prisoners was accepted. 
Of course I did not personally suffer from exposure to cold, being 
on the Island only during the spring and summer months, but 
I not only heard of these scenes and regulations from many men 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 281 

who had wintered on this desert isle, but jnst before my release, I 
talked with a gentleman who had resigned or been removed from 
the place of post surgeon because of his repeated but fruitless 
protests that it was impossible to maintain men in health while 
half fed and half clad, and who in particular had attempted to 
evade the barbarous regulation about overcoats, by giving out cer- 
tificates, as rapidly as he could write or sign them, that the bearer 
needed an overcoat on the score of health. 

At Fort Lafayette we were well fed ; but I have never been able 
to understand by what rule or principle of civilized warfare, an 
honorable prisoner of war could be immured for weeks in a stone 
casemate, among deserters, and prisoners under charges for viola- 
ting the laws of war. 

It gives me pleasure to state that I experienced great kindness 
from some of the Federal officers during my imprisonment, and 
especially from a Major Lee, who succeeded Colonel Hill at John- 
son's Island. He had lost an arm I think in Gen. Sickle's corps at 
Gettysburg. The surgeon of whose humanity mention was made 
above, was not the only Federal officer who during my brief prison 
experience protested to his superiors against the inhumanity of the 
prison regimen. 

The following statement can be vouched for as strictly accurate : 
Rock Island Prison, 1864-5. 

By Charles Wright, of Tennessee. 

I record here my experience in Rock' Island Prison, simply as a 
contribution to history. For the truth of what I state, in some 
cases I refer to official documents, and in others I refer to thousands 
of witnesses yet living. 

The treatment of prisoners in Northern prisons is a subject that 
has received little attention from the press, and consequently is 
little understood. The charges of cruelty to prisoners, made with 
such confidence against the South, on a recent occasion, for the 
purpose of political aggrandizement, and which recalls the old 
story of " Stop thief," where the thief bawled the loudest, makes 
it necessary in common justice to ventilate the Northern prisons. 
This could not have been done within the past eleven years for 
obvious reasons. 

The Federal soldier returning home to a land of plenty, his 
necessities anticipated by benevolent associations, his spirits cheered 
by the sympathy of a grateful people, and his services rewarded 
with bounties and pensions by a generous Government, found 
leisure and encouragement to recount his sufferings and privations 
to eager listeners, and the air was filled with cries for vengeance on 
his jailors. But the Confederate soldier returning home from a 
Northern prison to a land of famine, found his substance wasted 
and his energies enfeebled ; disfranchised and beggared, he forgot 



282 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

his past sufiferings in his present wretchedness ; he had neither the 
time to lament, nor the indination to talk about his treatment in 
prison ; he was thankful if his health permitted him to labor for 
those dearer to him than himself, and for the cripple and the in- 
valid there was no resource. There was no lack of sympathy, but 
his friends were the poor. Thus it happened that the cruelty prac- 
tised in Northern prisons never came to light. The victor monopo- 
lized the story of suffering as well as the spoils. 

I arrived at Rock Island prison, Illinois, on the 16th January, 
1864, in company with about fifty other prisoners, from Columbus, 
Kentucky. ]5efore entering the prison we were drawn up in a line 
and searched ; the snow was deep, and the operation prolonged a 
most unreasonable time. We were then conducted within the 
prison to Barrack No. 52, and again searched — this time any small 
change we had about our persons was taken away and placed to 
our credit with an officer called the Commissary of Prisoners. The 
first search was probably for arms or other contraband articles. 
The prison regulations were then read, and we were dismissed. 
Rock Island is in the Mississippi river, about fifteen hundred miles 
above New Orleans, connected with the city of Rock Island, Illinois, 
on the East, and the city of Davenport, Iowa, on the West, by a 
bridge. It is about three miles in length. 

The prison was 1,250 feet in length by 87$ feet in width, enclo- 
sing twent3^-five acres. The enclosure was a jDlank fence, about 
sixteen feet high, on the outside of which a parapet was built about 
twelve feet from the ground. Here sentinels were placed over- 
looking the prison. About twenty feet from the fence, on the in- 
side, was what Avas called the "Dead Line" — at first marked with 
stakes, afterwards by a ditch — over which it was death to pass. 
The barracks were sixty feet from the fence, the width between 
each barrack thirty feet, and streets one hundred feet wide between 
each row of ])arracks. Two avenues, one the length of the prison, 
and ninety feet wide, the other in length the width of the prison, 
and one hundred and thirty feet wide, divided the space enclosed 
into four equal divisions each containing twenty-one barracks, 
making a total of eighty-four. These barracks were each one 
hundred feet long by twenty-two feet wide, and contained three 
tiers of bunks — platforms of rough plank for sleeping. About 
fifteen feet of the rear of the room was partitioned off for a cook- 
room, and was furnislied with a stove and boiler. The main room 
had two stoves for burning coal — this article being cheap and 
abundant. Each barrack was constructed to receive one hundred 
and twenty men. The sinks were first erected in the centre of the 
streets, but afterwards built on the dead line ; there being no sewer- 
age, tubs were used, and details of prisoners every morning carried 
the tubs to the river, a most disgusting duty. Town i Is the end of 
the war a sewer was made in one of the avenues extuii Ung to the 
river, the prisoners being employed in blasting rock for that 
purpose. 



Treatment of Prisoners Daring the War. 283 

The chief executive officers were a commandant of the post and 
a provost marshal, the latter having the immediate care and gov- 
ernment of the prisoners, assisted by a number of deputies. The 
parapet was first guarded by a regiment of old men, called Grey- 
beards, afterwards by the 197th Pennsylvania Volunteers, and from 
July, 1864, by the 108th United States Colored Infantry. The duty 
of calling the roll of prisoners was performed by several companies 
of the Fourth Veteran Reserve Corps. These men were soldiers 
who had seen service in various regiments, and on account of 
wounds or other disabilities were formed' into corps for prison duty. 
Each barrack was in charge of a prisoner appointed b}^ the provost 
marshal, called the orderly of the barrack. All orders concerning 
the prisoners were communicated to these orderlies by the provost 
marshal. The roll was called three times a day, and the barracks 
inspected every morning. One letter only could be written each 
week, not to exceed a page, and no subject concerning the prison 
or its regulations could be referred to. Newspapers were prohibited. 
The last two precautions weris, however, frequently evaded. Thrifty 
Federal soldiers employed in the prison would receive a number of 
letters collected by a prisoner, and mail them outside the prison 
for a fee of twenty-five cents on each letter. Newspapers were 
brought in by the same parties and sold for twenty-five cents a 
number. Occasionally they were searched and discovered, and 
tied up by the thumbs. Frequent . searches were made of the 
barracks for clothing. In these searches the provost marshal's men 
would carry off whatever tJiey considered surplus clothing, leaving 
scant wardrobes to those unfortunates who had not prepared for 
the visit by secreting their extra drawers, shirt, &c. The sutler of 
the post supplied prisoners who had money to their credit with 
the commissary of prisoners with such articles as they needed. 
This was done through orders, the sutler's wagon delivering the 
goods once a week. This arrangement, however, ceased as regards 
any article of food, in August, 18G4. I refer to the order in another 
place. 

The winter of 1863-4 was intensely cold. During this time some 
poor fellows were without blankets, and some even without shoes. 
They would huddle around the stoves at night and try to sleep. 
The feet of those who had no shoes, or were poorly protected, 
became sore and swollen, and in one case that I saw, mortification 
no doubt ensued, for the man was taken from my barrack to the 
hospital and died in a few days. 

The severity of the weather caused cleanliness of person and 
clothing to be disregarded by some, and as a consequence scarcely 
a man escaped the itch. Early in 1864 the small-pox broke out in 
the prison. The authorities were not prepared for the appearance 
of this fearful disease — the hospitals not being finished. The in- 
fected and the healthy men were in the same barrack. The disease 
spread so rapidly there was no room in the buildings outside the 
prison, and certain barracks within the enclosure were set apart for 



284 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

small-pox hospitals. Prisoners who had had the small-pox were 
detailed for nurses to those who were sick. The surgeons vaccinated 
the men at intervals, but apparently with little effect. The death 
rate at this time was alarming. On the 9th March, 1864, twenty- 
nine men had died in the hospital from my barrack, which did not 
have its full complement of men. I noted the names of the men 
to that date. They are the following : 

R. Shed, T. J. Smith, Allen Screws, D. W. Sandlin, Joe Shipp, 
D. L. Trundle, J. H. Wood, J. J. Webster, J. J. Akins, Thomas 
Pace, William Tatum, W. H. Dotson, W. R. Jones, C. E. Middleton, 
R. R. Thompson, William T. St. John, Samuel Hendrix, Jere. 
Therman, E. Stallings, E. Sapp, Thomas Burton, M. E. Smithpeter, 
J. M. Ticer, J. L. Smith, John Graham, T, W. Smallwood, Jonathan 
Faw, G. L. Underwood, C. R. Mangrum. 

Now assuming the barrack contained one hundred and twenty 
men, which was its full complement, the death rate to March 9, 
1864, was twenty-five per cent. 

The provost marshal's abstract for May 12, 1865, has the following 
figures : 

Number of prisoners received, - - - 12,215 

Died, 1,945 

Entered United States navy, - - - 1,077 

Entered United States army, (frontier service), 1,797 

Released, ..... 1^386 

Transferred, - - - - - 72 

Escaped, --...- 45 

Exchanged, ..... 3^729 

10,051 



Remaining in prison May 12, 1865, - - 2,164 

As all the prisoners were discharged in June, 1865, this date 
(May 12) is near enough for our purpose. It shows that nearly 
sixteen per cent, died during the eighteen months Rock Island was 
used as a prison. This number (1,945) includes those who were 
killed b)» the sentinels — the killed not being classified by the 
provost marshal. 

The number released (1,386) includes those who having offered 
to join the United States navy or army were rejected by the 
surgeons as physically disqualified. More than fifty per cent, of 
the released were of this class. The balance were principally 
Missourians, captured during Price's, last raid. These claimed to 
be Union men, and having proved their loyalty to the satisftiction 
of the Secretary of War, were released by his order. The prisoners 
transferred were officers originally brought to Rock Island, but 
afterwards sent to Johnson's Island or other military prisons. 

In April, 1864, the sentinels on the parapet commenced firing at 
the prisoners and into the barracks, and this practice continued 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 285 

while I remained. I am ignorant as to the orders the sentinels 
received, but I know that the firing was indiscriminate, and ap- 
parently the mere caprice of the sentinels. Going to the sinks at 
night was a most dangerous undertaking, for they were now built 
on the " dead line," and lamps with reflectors were fastened to the 
plank fence — the sentinel above being unseen, while the man ap- 
proaching the sink was in full view of the sentinel. Frequently 
they would halt a prisoner and make him take off his pants in the 
street, and then order him to come to the sink in his drawers, (if 
he had any). I have heard the cocking of a gun presented at 
myself while going to the sink at night, but by jumping into an 
alley between the barracks I saved myself the exercise of walking 
to the sink in my drawers or from receiving the contents of the 
gun. I find this entry in my diary on June 10, 1864: "Attacked 
with diarrrhoea in the night. Afraid to go near the sink." I can- 
not say that the sentinels had positive orders to shoot on each 
occasion, but that they received encouragement to do so, and were 
relieved of all responsibility for such acts, is certain from the 
following orders, which were publicly promulgated to the orderlies 
of barracks by the provost marshal, to wit:. 

May 12, 1864. — Ordered, that no prisoner be out of his barracks 
after "taps." 

May 13, 1864. — Ordered, any prisoner shouting or making a 
noise will be shot. 

It was noticed and discussed among the prisoners, that the 
shooting was most violent immediately after a Confederate success. 
I noted some cases that came under my own observation, but by 
no means a complete list; in fact, the prisoners became so accus- 
tomed to the firing from the parapet, that unless it occurred near 
his side of the prison, a man would take little notice of it. 

1864. 

April 27 — Prisoner shot by sentinel. 

May 27 — One man killed and one wounded in the leg. 

June 9 — Franks, Fourth Alabama Cavalry, killed last night at 
barrack No. 12. He was shot by the sentinel on the 
parapet as he was about to step into the street. His 
body fell into the barrack, and lay there till morning. 
The men afraid to go near him during the night. 
22 — Bannister Cantrell, Co. G., 18th Georgia, and James W. 
Ricks, Co. F„ 50th Georgia, Avere shot by the sentinel 
on the parapet. They were on detail working in the 
ditch, and had stopped to drink some fresh water just 
brought to them. 
26 — Prisoner shot in leg and arm while in his bunk at bar- 
rack 55. 

During August, and part of September, I was confined to my 
bunk with dysentery, and have few entries in my diary. 



286 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

1864. 
September 26 — William Ford, Co. D, Wood's Missouri Battery, of 
barrack 60, killed by sentinel on the. parapet. 
He was returning from the sink, and shot through 
the body at the rear of barrack 72. 

26— T. P. Robertson, Co. I, Twenty-fourth South Caro- 
lina, shot by sentinel on parapet, and wounded 
in the back, whilq sitting in front of barrack 38, 
about 8 o'clock this morning. 

26— T. J. Garrett, Co. K, Thirteenth Arkansas, shot by 
sentinel on parapet during the night while going 
to the sink. 

27 — George R. Canthew, of barrack 28, shot by sentinel 
on parapet. 

28 — Sentinel shot into barrack No. 12 through the 
window. 
October 4 — Man killed in the frontier pen by negro sentinel. 

21 — I was taken out of the prison and paroled, to re- 
main at headquarters of the j^ost. 

In none of the above cases were the men attempting to escape or 
violating any of the known rules of the prison. 

The firing of the 26th September was regarded as the parting 
salute of the 197th Pennsylvania Volunteers, that regiment being 
relieved at guard-mount by the 108th United States Colored In- 
fantry. 

The first call for prisoners to join the United States service was 
in March, 1864. It was proposed to release all who offered to enter 
the Navy, and were rejected by the surgeon. According to the 
provost marshal's abstract 1,077 recruits were obtained. The next 
call was on the 11th Septeml^er, 1864. This was for the jDurpose 
of organizing regiments for frontier service, that is, for the Indian 
country. For a time very few availed themselves of this chance 
to get something to eat, and repeated calls were made. At length, 
a separate enclosure being built, it was announced that the gates 
would be open all niglit, and candidates would be received at any 
time. Then a remarkable change took place. The frontier service 
became quite popular. Men who had ridiculed others for joining, 
decamped during the night and enrolled themselves in the frontier 
service. This latter arrangement partook rather of the chara-cter 
of a private speculation. A certain Judge Petty, of the oil regions 
of Pennsylvania, came to Rock Island with authority from the 
President of the United States, and offered a bounty of $100 to 
each man enlisted, with the assurance that such as were rejected 
by the surgeon should be released. Each man enlisted was a sub- 
stitute for a citizen of Venango, Clarion, and other adjoining coun- 
ties of Pennsylvania, who had been drafted to serve in the United 
States army. It was reported that these citizens paid $300 each to 
Judge Petty to obtain a substitute, but whatever he received, I know 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 287 

that only $100 each was paid the enlisted men for the frontier ser- 
vice. Captain H. R. Rathbone, United States army, came from 
Washington, and mustered the men into service. I was detailed 
to assist in preparing the muster-rolls, and can vouch for all the 
foregoing except the $300, which I leave with the citizens of Ve- 
nango, Clarion, and other counties represented in the war by the 
prisoners of Rock Island. If the report be true, Judge Petty 
"struck oil" at Rock Island for 1,797 times $200, or $359,400. 

Until June 1st, 1864, no reasonable complaint could be made in 
regard to the food furnished the prisoners ; but from that date until 
June, 1865, the inmates of Rock Island were subjected to starvation 
and all its attendant horrors. I know that this charge was denied 
by the officers of that prison at the very time the atrocity was be- 
ing perpetrated. God may forgive whoever caused the deed to be 
done, but surely there is little hojDe for whoever denies it iiow. The 
following is a copy of a circular from the Commissary General of 
Prisoners, dated June 1st, 1864. It is the ration ordered for each 
prisoner per day: 

Pork or Bacon 10 ounces, in lieu of fresh beef. 

Fresh beef 14 ounces. 

Flour or soft bread.. ..16 ounces. 

Hard bread 14 ounces, in lieu of flour or soft bread. 

Corn meal IG ounces, in lieu of flour or soft bread. 

Beans or peas 12J pounds, 

Or rice or hominy 8 pounds, 

Soap 4 pounds, j- to 100 rations. 

Vinegar .3 quarts, 

Salt' , 85 pounds, 

Now all this means only bread and meat — sixteen ounces of the 
former, and fourteen ounces of the latter; and we will add one- 
hundredth part of eight pounds of hominy. For let the reader 
observe that if hominy is issued, rice or peas or beans is not issued. 
Here, then, we have only three articles of food according to the 
official document, but in so far as that represents the quantities and 
the kind of articles issued to the prisoners, it is a fraud ; as Paul 
wrote the Galations, " Behold, before God, I lie not." Here is what 
the prisoners actually received : 

Twelve ounces corn bread,fourandahalf ounces saltbeef (usually 
unfit for human food). No man can conceive the effect of this diet. 
To realize what he would eat at the end of a month he must expe- 
rience this treatment for a month. Did the prisoners eat rats and 
mice and dogs when they could get them? What would they not 
eat? The cravings of hunger were never relieved. One continued 
gnawing anguish, that sleep aggravated rather than appeased was 
ever present. They did eat rats and mice to my knowledge. 

The dogs were missing, and who will doubt that the starved 
wretches, who ate rats, had feasted on the dogs. What difference 
is there between my statement and the official circular? I say 
twelve ounces bread ; it says sixteen ounces. I say four and 'a half 
ounces salt beef; it says ten ounces salt pork. I say two articles of 



288 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

food, the circular mentions three. The bread we received was made 
of corn meal, in loaves shaped like bricks, and about as hard. 
The salt beef had a most offensive odor. An orderly asked an 
officer of the prison to step into his barrack and smell the beef; 
he did so, but merely remarked he had often eaten worse. De- 
pravity had reached its limit in his case, for he w^as doing violence 
to his stomach in even smelling that beef. 

I find this note in my diary July 10, 1864: "Nothing to eat till 
one o'clock," and again September 18th: "Nothing to eat at all 
this day." For some reason the bread wagon did not come in; the 
bread was issued daily, and the meat Avhich was issued every ten 
days, had been consumed. There is not at first glance very much 
difference between my statement and the commissary's circular, 
and for a few daj^s the difference in quantity would be immaterial, 
but when the quality of the food, and the weary sameness through 
many months is considered, even the commissary's allowance 
would have been a sumptuous repast. Think of it for a moment. 
We will take his bacon, and his beans, and his soft bread, that is 
all to be sure, but what a meal, when compared with the stinking 
salt beef, and the hard corn bread. , 

When the order reducing the ration, dated June 1st, 1864, went 
into effect, those prisoners who w'ere fortunate enough to have 
money to their credit with the commissary, could still obtain flour 
from the sutler, and large quantities were brought in every week. 
The commissary's journal would prove this, and at the same time 
show the scarcity of bread within the prison. 

Prisoners who had no money w'rote to their friends for food ; and 
those who had no friends who were able to send them food, were 
not all neglected; for the Christian Avomen of the North came to 
their assistance, wdth food and clothing; and continued active and 
untiring, even in the face of official insolence, until the order from 
the Commissary General of Prisoners, dated Washington, August 
10th, 1864, cut the prisoners off from the outside world, and all 
hope of assistance. No more food from friends; no more flour 
from the sutler ; no more clothing ; no prospect of exchange ; no 
hope of release, no more visits from wife or mother. Under these 
circumstances the wonder is that more men did not join the United 
States army. Disease followed as a matter of course, and the death 
rate is fully accounted for. 

On the 10th October, 1864, being a British subject, I addressed a 
protest to Lord Lyons, then tlie British minister at Washington, 
from which I make the following extracts : 

* * * I further declare that the food issued to- us is unwhole- 
some, insufficient and productive of disease; * * * that we are 
strictly prohibited by circular No. 4, dated Office of Commissary 
General of Prisoners, Washington, D. C, August 10th, 1864, from 
receiving, by purchase or otherwise, vegetables or other provisions, 
in cousequence scurvy is prevalent and other diseases generated. 
* * * Subject as I am to the pangs of hunger, to disease, to a 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 289 

violent death, I appeal to your lordship to demand a mitigation of 
the rigor of my present situation." 

This was made known to the United States Government, by the 
British minister, in a letter to Mr. Seward, dated October 20th, 1864, 
in these words: * * * ^"Wright complains very much of the 
quantity and quality of the food he gets as being insufficient and 
generative of disease. I hope that his case may be attended to, 
and that I may hear something soon upon the subject." 

A few days after this I was paroled to assist in the clerical du- 
ties of the post adjutant's office, and remained there until released 
in June, 1865. 

It must not be supposed that my correspondence with the British 
minister left the prison in the prescribed channel. I had tried that, 
and found that certain letters of mine did not reach him. My 
■communications were smuggled out in the manner I have de- 
scribed in this paper, and sent under cover to friends in St. Louis 
and Albany, who mailed them. I mention this because the Sec- 
retary of War took some credit to himself for liberality in my case, 
as will be seen from the following extract of a letter addressed to 
Mr. Seward : 

War Depar'J'ment, Washington City, 
October 12th, 1864, 



Mr. Wright makes no complaint of harsh treatment, and the pa- 
pers which he presents show that the officers who have had him 
in charge have rendered him every facility in submitting his 

appeal. 

********* 

If Mr. Seward was misled by this statement in regard to my 
treatment, he was certainly undeceived when he received the British 
minister's note, dated October 20th, of which I have given an 
extract. 

The wretched condition of the prisoners at Rock Island was well 
known to the citizens^of Rock Island City and Davenport. 

At the request of Judge Grant of the latter city, on the 20th of 
September, 1864, I made a faithful statement of the treatment and 
condition of the prisoners ; and for this purpose, in company with 
others, I visited a number of barracks. The bread and the meat 
were carefully weighed, and the quality of the food truthfully re- 
ported. The judge desired a plain statement, without exaggeration 
or comment, to use in an eifort he was about to make at Washing- 
ton to ameliorate the condition of the prisoners. As no change for 
the better took place, the presumption is that Judge Grant did not 
succeed in his benevolent mission. I have mentioned that the 
officers of the prison denied the charge of cruelty, at a time when 
the poor wretches within the walls were sinking under the starva- 
tion diet I have described. That denial was made necessary in 



290 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

consequence of the following letter, which appeared in the New 

York Neivs in January, 1865 : 

[From a Private Letter.] 

Chicago, Illinois, December 27, 18G-1. 

* * * "The condition and suffering of the Rebel prisoners at 
Rock Island is a source of agony to every heart not absolutely dead 
to the feelings of common humanity and the scantiest Christian 
mercy. There are from six to eight thousand confined here. Many 
have taken *the oath' — any oath to save themselves from actual 
starvation. These released prisoners, though liberated at different 
intervals of time, all tell the same story. The allowance to each 
man has been one small loaf of bread (it takes three to make a 
pound), and a piece of meat two inches square per day. This was 
the rations ! Lately it has been reduced. Think of it reduced ! 
All the released ones say that no man can live on the rations given, 
and that there are men that would do anything to get enough to eat! 
Such is the wretched, ravenous condition of these poor starving crea- 
tures, that several dogs which have come to the barracks with teams 
have fallen victims to their hunger, and they are trapping rats and 
mice for food, actually to save life. Many of them are nearly naked, 
bare-footed, bare-headed, and without bed-clothes ; exposed to cease- 
less torture from the chill and pitiless winds of the upper Missis- 
sippi. Thus, naked and hungry, and in prison, enduring a wretch- 
edness which no tongue can describe, no language tell, they suffer 
from day to day — each day their number growing less by death — 
death, their only comforter — their only merciful visitor ! 

God in heaven ! Shall these things continue ? Can we hope for 
success in our cause? Will a mercifvil and just God bless and 
prosper it, if such cruel inhumanity is practiced by our rulers ? 
May we not provoke a terrible and just chastisement at His hands? 
No Christian heart, knowing the facts, can feel otherwise. 

Many charitable persons, influenced by no other motives than 
common humanity and Christian duty, have sent supplies of cloth- 
ing to these prisoners, but they have not been permitted to reach 
them. I have heard of sales of such clothing having been made 
across the river at Davenport, at very low prices. Is it possible 
that the authorities at Washington know of and approve these 
things. 

A good many have taken the oath, stating afterwards to citizens 
that they did so really to save them from starvation. I learn that 
there are about five thousand confined here, who have resolved to 
die rather than do so. Although they are wrong, is there not a 
sublime heroism in the adherence of these men, amid such trials, 
to a cause which they believe to be right?" 

This exposure was denounced by a Chicago paper as "An in- 
famous Rebel falsehood," and "an attempt to justify the Rebels in 
starving our prisoners." The Chicago journalist may be excused 
on the ground of ignorance, but not so the officers of the prison ; 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 291 

as principals or as tools they committed this outrage on humanity 
for the sake of their commissions, like the Irish jurors portrayed 
by Curran, " Conscience swung from its moorings, and they sought 
safety for themselves in the surrender of the victims." 

But hunger was not the only cause of suffering, clothing was 
prohibited. The provost marshal took possession of all boxes and 
packages addressed to prisoners — these were opened and examined — 
and until August, 1864, with the exception of some pilfering, usually 
reached the owner; but after that date, the prisoners were not per- 
mitted to receive anything sent by friends or relatives. How much 
clothing and provisions fell into the hands of the provost marshal 
and his men after August, will never be known. What they did 
with the booty may be readily guessed. On the 22d February, 
1865, three Confederate officers arrived, and distributed clothing to 
the prisoners, but the worst part of the winter had then been en- 
dured, for want of that covering the jailors had taken away. I 
have given my own experience until October, 1864, but I know 
that the suffering was even more terrible during the following 
winter. In a climate where the well clothed sentinels were relieved 
at short intervals to prevent their freezing to death, nature demands 
a generous food to sustain life; but the last winter in Rock Island 
prison presented a scene of destitution only to be equaled by a 
crew of cast-awayg in the frozen ocean, and this too where the 
sound of Sabbath bells were heard. It was a pleasant sound to 
many who felt that their troubles were nearly ended ; it seemed a 
prelude to the melody that awaited them in a better land. But to 
those who could not die, whose vitality doomed them to suffer, 
what a mockery the sound seemed to them ; what rebellious thoughts 
of God's injustice took possession of their souls, and would not 
down while tortured with the cravings of hunger. I have realized 
these things. I have noted one day that I tasted no food. It was 
Sunday the 18th September, 1864. I was recovering from a severe 
attack of dysentery. I was very hungry. The church bells were 
ringing as I eagerly watched the great gate of the prison hoping it 
would open, and the bread wagon would come in, but hour after 
hour passed away, and there was no sign, evening came on and I 
gave up all hope. I had lingered near that gate all day. Hunger 
is delirium, and the gospel is not for the famished body. The good 
men who sometimes preached for us had had their breakfasts. The 
Government that sent us preachers would not send us bread. 



L. 



292 Southern Historical Society Papers. ' 

Dr. Handy has preserved in his letter-book an original copy of 

PRISON RULES AT FORT DELAWARE, 

which we give in full : 

Headquarters Fort Delaware, 
July 8th, 1864. 

I. Roll call at reveille and retreat. 
II. Police call at 7 A. M. and 4 P. M. 

III. Breakfast call at 8 A. M.; dinner, 2 P. M. 

IV. Sergeants in charge of the prisoners will exact from them a 
strict compliance with the above calls, which will be regularly en- 
forced, and must promptly report to the officer in charge, the num- f, 
ber present and absent, sick, etc.; and any who are guilty of in- ? 
subordination, or any violation of the rules of this prison. They 
must fdso notify their men that if they do not "promptly obey any order , 
given them by a sentinel, officer, or men in charge of them, they toill be 
shot. 

V. Sergeants in charge will be held responsible for the due exe- 
cution of these rules, and for the regular accounting for the number 
of their men. 

By comrnand A. Schoepf, Brigadier-General. 

(Signed) • George W. Ahl, , 

Captain and A. A. A. G. ^ 

We have received a paper from Mr. John A. Bateson, of Pioche, 
Nevada, one of the Federal guard at Rock Island, which is a strong 
confirmation of the above statement of Mr. Wright. 

Mr. Bateson is vouched for by a district judge and a prominent r 
lawyer of Pioche as a gentleman of "perfect truthfulness and reli- 
ability"; and he refers to a number of leading Republicans in the 
Northwest, with whom he has always been politically associated, 
" for an endorsement of his character as a staunch Republican and 
honorable man." 

His, therefore, is not "Rebel" testimony, but that of a Union 
soldier, and " a truly loyal Republican," whom Mr. Blaine cannot 
dismiss with the cry of "traitor." 

TESTIMONY OF A FEDERAL SOLDIER. 

Pioche, Februaiy 19, 1876. 

During a period of ten months I was a member of the garrison 
of the Rock Island Military Prison. There were confined there' 
about ten thousand men. Those men were retained in a famishing \ 
condition by order of Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. That 
order was approved by Abraham Lincoln. It was read before the 
inside garrison of the prison sometime in January, 1864. It was 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. .293 

read at assembly for duty on the 2d, in front of the prison. It 
went into effect on the following day. It continued in force until 
the expiration of my term of service, and, I have understood, until 
the close of the war. 

When it was read, Colonel Shaffner, of the Eighth Veteran Re- 
serves, was acting Provost Marshal of Prisoners. I think that it was 
Captain Robinson who read the order. It reduced the daily allow- 
ance of the captives to about ten ounces of bread and four ounces 
of meat per man. 

Some time in January a batch of prisoners arrived. They were 
captured at Knoxville. Sixty of them were consigned to barrticks 
under my charge. They were received by me at about 3 in 
the afternoon. One of the prisoners inquired of me when they 
would draw rations. I told him not until the following day. He 
said that in that case some of his comrades must die, as they had 
eaten nothing since their capture several days before — the exact 
period I cannot state. That evening at roll call one of the prisoners 
exhibited symptoms of delirium. He moved from the ranks, and 
seemed to grasp for something, which I understood to be a table 
loaded with delicacies. I returned him to the ranks, where he 
remained until roll-call was over, when I left. On the following 
morning he and two others were dead. 

The mortality report among the neiv Rehs wa s extraordinarily large. 
I think it amounted to about ten per cent, of the entire nulnber. It 
created an interest among the company commandants, and was the 
subject of many expressions. From the Rebel orderlies I learned that 
the symptoms in each case were the same. There was no complaint ; 
no manifestation of illness. Some dropped while standing on the 
floor; others fell from a sitting posture. All swooned and died 
without a struggle. 

Some of the prisoners had money sent them. It was deposited 
with the Provost Marshal, and their orders on the sutler were at 
first honored, but supplies from this direction were soon prohibited; 
the sutler's wagon was excluded from.,the prison. Supplies from 
relatives of prisoners, consisting of clothes, food and stationery 
came for some. The parcels containing them were distributed 
from "Barrack Thirty." The boxes were examined, everything 
in the shape of subsistence was removed, and the box and its con- 
tents delivered to the prisoner; the food it contained was destroyed 
before the face of the tantalized captive. 

Small tufts of a weed, called parsley, grew under the sides of the 
prison. It was over the dead-line, where prisoners dare not go. 
At their earnest entreaty I have sometimes plucked and handed it 
to some of them. They told me it was a feast. Squads of prisoners 
under guard were sent to work in different parts of the Island. 
They sometimes purchased raw potatoes and onions for their com- 
rades suf!ering with scurvy. They were searched at the prison 
gate, and those articles taken from them. 

I am ready to swear that in my opinion the Knoxville prisoners 
were starved to death. 



294 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

As to the torture endured by the scurvy patients, the shooting 
of prisoners by the guards on the parapets, the smashing of their ' 
skulls with revolvers by officers of the prison, such misfortunes are 
incident to prison life, and neither tlie Government nor the Re- 
publican party can be held responsible for them. 

The weather on January 1st was the most intensely cold I ever 
experienced; and from all parts of the prison came intelligence of 
prisoners frozen to death. One died in one of my companies. He 
was reported to me, and I placed my hand on the corpse; it was 
frozen. This is the first time I have mentioned it. I cannot say 
that he froze to death. 

John A. Bateson, 
115th E. V. R. C, Second Battalion. 

We have a long 

STATEMENT OF JOHN J. VAN-ALLEN, 

of Watkins, Schuyler county. New York, from which we make the 
following extract: 

Late in the fall of 1864, and when tlie bitter sleets and biting 
frosts of winter had commenced, a relief organization was impro- 
vised by some of the generous ladies and gentlemen of the city of 
Baltimore for the purpose of alleviating the w%intsof those confined 
in the Elmira Prison, where there were then several thousand pri- 
soners. 

I had the honor to be appointed by that organization to ascer- 
tain the needs of the prisoners, to distribute clothing, money, etc., 
as they might require. I had formerly lived at Elmira, where I 
studied my profession, but then (as now) I resided at this place, 
twenty miles distant from Elmira, where I have resided for nearly 
twenty-five years, and was well known at Elmira. 

As soon as appointed I journeyed to that delightful paradise for 
Confederate prisoners (according to Walker, Tracy and Piatt), and 
stated the object of my visit to the commanding officer, and asked 
to be permitted to go through the prison in order to ascertain the 
wants of the prisoners, with the request that I might distribute 
necessary blankets, clothing, money, medicines, etc. 

He treated me with consideration and kindness, and informed 
me that they were very destitute of clothing and blankets; that 
not one-half of them had even a single blanket; and that many 
were nearly naked, the most of tliem having been captured 
during the hot summer months with no other than thin cotton 
clothes, which in most instances were in tatters. Yet he stated 
that he could not allow me to enter the prison gate or administer 
relief, as an order of the War Department rendered him powerless. 
I then asked him to telegraph the facts to the AVar Department and 
ask a revocation or modification of the order, which he did ; and two 
or three days were thus consumed by me in a fruitless endeavor 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 295 

to procure the poor jDrivilege of carrying out the designs of the 
good Samaritans at Baltimore who were seeking to alleviate in a 
measure the wants of the poor sufferers, who were there dying off 
like rotten sheep from cold and exposure. The officer in com- 
mand was an army officer, and his heart nearly bled for those poor 
sufferers ; and I know he did all in his power to aid me, but his 
efforts were fruitless to assist me to put a single coat on the Back of 
a sufferer. The brutal Stanton was inexorable to all my entreaties, 
and turned a deaf ear to the tale of their sufferings. The only 
proposition that could be entertained was this: If I would fetch 
clothing only of a gray color (Confederate uniforms) I could place 
it in the hands of some under-strappers of the loyal persuasion, as 
well as such moneys as I might wish to leave in the same hands, 
-and they would distribute the same as they liked. 

This could not be allowed to be done by the commanding officer, 
%Vii must be done by one of the loyal (?) gentry, who I became 
satisfied would absorb it before any poor Confederate soldier would 
even catch a glimse at its shadow; and I was actually forced to 
give the matter up in despair. 

The nearest I could get to the j^oor skeletons confined in that 
prison, was a tower built by some speculator in an adjoining field 
across the way from the prison pen, for which privilege a money 
consideration was exacted and paid. .On taking a position upon 
this tower what a sight of misery and squalor was presented ! My 
heart was made sick, and I blushed for my country — more because 
of the inhumanity there depicted. Nearly all of the many thou- 
sands there were in dirty rags. The rain was pouring, and thou- 
sands were without shelter, standing in the mud in their bare feet, 
with clothes in tatters, of the most unsubstantial material, withouf: 
blankets. I tell the truth, and Mr. Charles C. B. Watkins dare not 
deny it, when I say these men suffered bitterly for the want of 
clothing, blankets and other necessaries. I was denied the privi- 
lege of covering their nakedness. 

The above statement needs no comment. The refusal of Mr. 
Stanton to allow this high-minded, Northern gentleman to distri- 
bute supplies among these destitute suffering prisoners, was of a 
piece with his insolent reply to Hon. A. J. Beresford Hope, who 
wrote for permission to use a sum of money raised by English 
gentlemen to alleviate the condition of Confederate prisoners at the 
North, and received for answer, that the United States Government 
was rich enough to provide for its prisoners, and needed no foreign help. 

Yes ! the United States Government was amply able to provide 
for its captives ; but it chose to adopt a system of cold-blooded 
cruelty, and to seek to avoid the verdict of history by the most 
persistent slai;iders against the Confederate authorities.' 

We give in full the following statement of a medical officer of 



296 Southern Historical Society Papers, 

the United States army, who was on duty at the Elmira prison. 
His letter was originally published in the New York World, and 
dated from Brooklyn, New York : 

STATEMENT OF A UNITED STATES MEDICAL OFFICER. 

To the Editor of the World : 

Sir — I beg herewith (after having carefully gone through the 
various documents in my possession pertaining to the matter) to 
forward you the following statistics and facts of the mortality of 
the Rebel prisoners in the Northern prisons, more particularly at 
that of Elmira, New York, where I served as one of the medical 
oflBcers for many months. I found, on commencement of my duties 
at Elmira, about 11,000 Rebel prisoners, full}^ one-third of whom 
were under medical treatment for diseases principally owing to an 
improper diet, a want of clothing, necessary shelter and bad sur- 
sounding; the diseases were consequently of the following nature: 
Scurvy, diarrhoea, pneumonia, and the various branches of typhoid, 
all superinduced by the causes, more or less, aforementioned. 

The winter of 1864-5 was an unusually severe and rigid one, and 
the prisoners arriving from the Southern States during this season 
were mostly old men and lads, clothed in attire suitable only to the 
genial climate of the South. I need not state to you that this alone 
was ample cause for an unusual mortality amongst them. The 
surroundings were of the following nature, viz: narrow, confined 
limits, but a few acres of ground in extent, and through which 
slowly flowed a turbid stream of water, carrying along with it all 
the excremental filth and debris of the camp ; this stream of water, 
horrible to relate, was the only source of supply, for an extended 
period, that the prisoners could possibly use for the purpose of 
ablution, and to slake their thirst from day to day ; the tents and 
other shelter allotted to the camp at Elmira were insufficient, and 
crowded to the utmost extent — hence, small pox and other skin 
diseases raged through the camp. 

Here I may note that, owing to a general order from the Govern- 
ment to vaccinate the prisoners, my opportunities were ample to 
observe the effects of spurious and diseased matter, and there is no 
doubt in my mind but that syphilis was engrafted in many in- 
stances; ugly and horrible ulcers and eruptions of a characteristic 
nature were, alas, too frequent and obvious to be mistaken. Small 
pox cases were crowded in such a manner that it was a matter of 
impossibility for the surgeon to treat his patients individually; 
they actually laid so adjacent that the simple movement of one of 
them would cause his neighbor to cry out in agony of pain. The 
confluent and malignant type prevailed to such an extent, and of 
such a nature, that the body would frequently be found one con- 
tinuous scab. 

The diet and other allowances by the Government for the use of 
the prisoners were ample, yet the poor- unfortunates were allowed 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 297 

to starve; but why, is a query which I will allow your readers to 
infer, and to draw conclusions therefrom. Out of the number of 
prisoners, as before mentioned, over three thousand of them now 
lay buried in the cemetery located near the camp for that purpose ; 
a mortality equal, if not greater than that of any prison in the 
South. At Andersonville, as I am well informed by brother officers 
who endured confinement there, as well asby the records at Wash- 
ington, the mortality was twelve thousand out of say about forty 
thousand prisoners. Hence it is readily to be seen that range of 
mortality was no less at Elmira than at Andersonville. 

At Andersonville there was actually nothing to feed or clothe the 
prisoners with, their own soldiers faring but little better than their 
prisoners; this, together with a torrid sun and an impossibility of 
exchange, was abundant cause for their mortality. With our pri- 
soners at Elmira, no such necessity should honestly have existed, 
as our Go%^ernnient had actually, as I have stated, most bountifully 
made provision for the wants of all detained, both of officers and 
men. Soldiers who have been prisoners at Andersonville, and 
have done duty at Elmira, confirm this statement, and which is in 
nowise in one particular exaggerated; also, the same may be told 
of other prisons managed in a similarly terrible manner. I allude 
to Sandusky, Delaware and others. I do not say that all prisoners 
at the North suffered and endured the terrors and the cupidity of 
venal sub-officials; on the contrary, at the camps in the harbor of 
New York, and at Point Lookout, and at other camps where my 
official duties from time to time have called me, the prisoners in 
all respects have fared as our Government intended and designated 
they should. Throughout Texas, where food and the necessaries 
of life were plentiful, I found our own soldiers faring well, and to 
a certain extent contented, so far, at least, as prisoners of war could 
reasonably expect to be. 

Our Government allowed the prisoners of war the following 
rations: Twelve ounces of pork or bacon, or one pound of salt or 
fresh beef; one pound six ounces of soft bread or flour, or one 
pound of corn meal; and to every one hundred rations, fifteen 
pounds of beans or peas and ten pounds of rice or hominy, ten 
pounds of green coffee or five pounds of roasted ditto, or one pound 
eight ounces of tea, fifteen pounds of sugar, four quarts of vinegar, 
thirty pounds of potatoes, and if fresh potatoes could not be 
obtained, canned vegetables were allowed. Prisoners of war will 
receive for subsistence one ration each, without regard to rank; 
their private property shall be duly respected, and each shall be 
treated with regard to his rank, and the wounded are to be treated 
with the same care as the wounded of our army. 

How faithfully these regulations were carried out at Elmira is 
shown by the following statement of facts: The sick in hospitals 
were curtailed in every respect (fresh vegetables and other anti- 
scorbutics were dropped from the list), the food scant, crude and 
unfit; medicine so badly dispensed that it was a farce for the med- 



298 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

ical man to prescribe. At large in the camp the prisoner fared 
still worse; a slice of bread and salt meat was given him for his 
breakfast, a poor hatched-up, concocted cup of soup, so called, and 
a slice of miserable bread, was all he could obtain for his coming 
meal; and hundreds of sick, who could in nowise obtain medical 
aid died, "unknelled, uncoffined and unknown." I have in no- 
wise drawn on the imagination, and the facts as stated can be 
attested by the staff of medical officers who labored at the Elmira 
prison for the Rebel soldiers. 

Ex-Medical Officer United States Army. 

We could multiply such statements as are given above almost 
indefinitely. 

We have the diary of the prison experience of Rev. L. W. Allen 
(a prominent Baptist minister of Virginia), the diary of Captain 
. Robert E. Park, of Georgia, the narrative of Benjamin Dashiels, of 
Colonel Snowden Andrews' Maryland Artillery, who was most in- 
humanly punished at Fort Delaware for refusing to give the names 
of friends in Maryland who were secretly ministering to the suffer- 
ing prisoners, and a number of other MSS., which all go to prove 
the points we have made. Indeed, it would be a very easy task to 
compile from MSS. in our possession several large volumes on the 
cruelties of Federal prisons. But we cannot now go into this sub- 
ject more fully. Nor can we now even touch upon the cruelties 
practiced towards civil prisoners who were arrested by the United 
States authorities on mere suspicion, and treated with the utmost 
rigor without even the forms of a trial. 

We have on our shelves no less than eiglit volumes giving de- 
tailed accounts of these false imprisonments, besides a number of 
MS. accounts, and we may at some future time let our readers hear 
" the tinkk of Mr. Seward's little bell." 

But we cannot now give more space to the treatment received by 
-Confederates in Northern prisons. We think we have fairly met 
Mr. Blaine's " issue," and that we have shown by incontrovertible 
testimony that Confederate prisoners we?-e cruelly treated in Northern 
prisons, and that they did not " receive the same rations and 
clothing as Union soldiers." And we have traced this cruel treat- 
ment directly to the Federal authorities who were constantly 
slandering the Confederate Government. 

We now pass to a further discussion of the ■ 

exchange question, " 

for after all this is the real gist of the wliole matter. The Govern- 



Tixatment of Prisoners Diiring the War, 299 

ment that is responsible for the failure to exchange prisoners is 
really responsible for the suffering which ensued on both sides. 

We think we have already proven that this responsibility rests 
with the authorities at Washington; but we will strengthen -the 
proof still further. We have published the cartel agreed upon on 
the 22d of July, 1862, and have called attention to the fact that a 
strict observance of its terms would have released all prisoners on 
both sides within ten days of their capture. 

Where difficulties arose in reference to particular classes of 
prisoners, the cartel provided that these should be passed by until 
they could be adjusted, and the cartel continue in force as to other 
prisoners. This xoas dons so long as the Confederates held the excess of 
prisoners. 

■ Soon after the signing of the cartel, a correspondence ensued, 
which would unquestionably have stopped all exchange of pris- 
oners had the Confederates not held a large excess of prisoners. The 
following 

LETTER FROM GENERAL LEE 

clearly sets forth the ])oints at issue : 

[Copy.] 

Headquakters Army of the Confederate States, 
Near Richmond, Virginia, August 2, 18G2. 

To ilie General Commanding United States Army., Washington : 

General — In obedience to the order of his Excellency, the 
President. of the Confederate States, I have the honor to make to 
you the following communication: 

On the 22d of July last a cartel for a general exchange of pri- 
soners of war was signed by Major-General John A. Dix, on behalf 
of the United States, and by Major-General D. H. Hill, on the part 
of this Government. By the terms of that cartel it is stipulated 
that all prisoners of war hereafter taken shall be discharged on 
parole until exchanged. 

Scarcely had the cartel been signed when the military authorities 
of the United States commenced a practice changing the character 
of the war from such as becomes civilized nations into a campaign 
of indiscriminate robbery and murder. 

A general order, issued by the Secretarj^ of War of the United 
States, in the city of Washington, on the very day that the cartel 
was signed in Virginia, directs the military commander of the 
United States to take the property of our people for the convenience 
and use of the army, witliout compensation. 

A general order, issued by Major-General Pope on the 23d of July 
last, the day after the date of the cartel, directs the murder of our 



300 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

peaceful citizens as spies, if found quietly tilling their farms in his 
rear, even outside of his lines. 

And one of- his Brigadier-Generals, Steinwehr, has seized inno- 
cent and peaceful inhabitants to be held as hostages, to the end that 
they may be murdered in cold blood if any of his soldiers are 
killed by some unknown j)ersons, whom he designated as " bush- 
whackers." 

Some of the military authorities of the United States seem to 
suppose that their end will be better attained by a savage war, in 
which no quarter is to be given and no age or sex to be spared, 
than by such hostilities as are alone recognized to be lawful in 
modern times. We find ourselves driven by our enemies, by steady 
progress, towards a practice whicli we abhor, and which we are 
vainly struggling to avoid. 

Under these circumstances this Government has issued the ac- 
companying general order, which I am directed by the President 
to transmit to 3"ou, recognizing Major-General Pope and his com- 
missioned officers to be in a position which they have chosen for 
themselves — that of robbers and murderers, and not that of public 
enemies, entitled, if captured, to be treated as prisoners of war. 

The President also instructs me to inform you that we renounce 
our right of retaliation on the innocent, and will continue to treat 
the private enlisted soldiers of General Pope's army as prisoners of 
war; but if' after notice to your Government that we confine re- 
pressive measures to the punishment of commissioned officers, who 
are willing participants in these crimes, the savage practices threa- 
tened in the orders alluded to, be persisted in, we shall reluctantly 
be forced to the last resort of accepting the war on the terms chosen 
by our enemies, until the voice of an outraged humanity shall 
compel a respect for the recognized usages of war. 

While the President considers that the facts referred to would 
justify a refusal on our part to execute the cartel, by which we 
have agreed to liberate an excess of prisoners of war in our hands, 
a sacred regard for plighted faith, which shrinks from the semblance 
of breaking a promise, precludes a resort to sucli an extremity. 
Nor is it his desire to extend to any other forces of the United 
States the punishment merited by General Pope and such com- 
missioned officers as choose to participate in the execution of his 
infamous orders. 

I have the honor to be, verv respectfully your obedient servant, 
(Signed) ' R. E. Lee, \ 

General Commanding. 

Adjutant and Inspector General's Office, 
Kicluuoiul, August 1, 1862. 
General Orders., No. 54. 

I. The following orders are published for the information and 
observance of all concerned : 

II. Whereas, by a general order, dated the 22d July, 18G2, issued 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 301 

by the Secretary of War of the United States, under the order of 
the President of the United States, the mihtary commanders of that 
Government within the States of Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, 
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas, are 
directed to seize and use any property, real or personal, belonging 
to the inhabitants of this Confederacy, which may be necessary or 
convenient for their several commands, and no provision is made 
_ for any compensation to the owners of private property thus seized 
and appropriated by the military commanders of the enemy: 

III. And whereas, by General Order, No. 11, issued on the 23d 
July, l'S62, by Major-General Pope, commanding the forces of the 
enemy in Northern Virginia, it is ordered that all "commanders 
of army corps, divisions, brigades and detached . commands, will 
proceed immediately to arrest all disloyal male citizens within their 
Tines or within their reach, in rear of their respective commands. 
Such as are willing to take the oath of allegiance to the United 
States, and will furnish sufficient security for its observance, shall 
be permitted to remain at their homes and pursue in good faith 
their accustomed avocations. Those who refuse shall be conducted 
South, beyond the extreme pickets of this army, and be notified 
that if found again anywhere within our lines, or at any point in 
rear, the}^ will be considered spies, and subjected to the extreme 
rigor of military law. If any person, having taken the oath of alle- 
giance as above specified, be found to have violated it, he shall be 
shot, and his property seized and applied to the public use": 

IV. And whereas, by an order issued on the 13th July, 1862, by 
Brigadier-General A. Steinwehr, Major William Steadman, a cavalry 
officer of his brigade, has been ordered to arrest five of the most 
prominent citizens of Page county, Virginia, to be held as hostages, 
and to suffer death in the event of any of the soldiers of said Stein- 
wehr being shot by "bushwhackers," by which term are meant the 
citizens of this Confederacy who have taken up arms to defend their 
homes and families : 

V. And whereas it results from the above orders that some of 
the military authorities of the United States, not content Vv'ith the 
unjust and aggressive warfare hitherto waged with savage cruelty 
against an unoffending people, and exasperated by the failure of 
their effort to subjugate them, have now determined to violate all 
the rules and usages of war, and to convert the hostilities hitherto 
waged against armed forces into a campaign of robbery and murder 
against unarmed citizens and peaceful tillers of the soil: 

VI. And whereas this Government, bound by the highest obli- 
gations of duty to its citizens, is thus driven to the necessity of 
adopting just such measures of retribution and retaliation as shall 
seem adequate to repress and punish these barbarities ; and whereas 
the orders above recited have only been published and made known 
to this Government since the signature of a cartel for exchange of 
prisoners of war, which cartel, in so far as it provides for an exchange 
of prisoners hereafter captured, would never have been signed or 



302 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

agreed to by this Governmentif the intention to chcange the war into a 
system of indiscriminate murder and robbery had been known to 
it; and whereas a just regard to humanity forbids that the repres- 
sion of crime which this Government is thus compelled to enforce 
should be unnecessarily extended to retaliation on the enlisted 
men in the army of the United States, who may be the unwilling 
instruments of the savage cruelty of their commanders, so long as 
there is hope that the excesses of the enemy may be checked or 
prevented by retribution on the commissioned officers, who have 
the power to avoid guilty action, by refusing service under a Gov- 
ernment which seeks their aid in the perpetration of such infamous 
barbarities : 

VII. Therefore, it is ordered that Major-General Pope, Brigadier- 
General Steinwehr, and all commissioned officers serving under 
their respective commands, be and they are hereby expressly, and 
specially declared to be not entitled to be considered as soldiers, 
and therefore not entitled to the benefit of the cartel for the parole 
of future prisoners of war. Ordered, further, that in the event of 
the capture of Major-General Pope or Brigadier-General Steinwehr, 
or of any commissioned officers serving under them, the captive so 
taken shall be held in close confinement so long as the orders afore- 
said shall continue in force and unrepealed by the competent mili- 
tary authorities of the United States; and that in the event of the 
murder of any unarmed citizen or inhabitant of this Confederacy 
by virtue or under pretext of any of the orders hereinbefore recited, 
whether with or without trial, whether under pretence of such cit- 
izen being a spy or hostage, or any other pretence, it shall be the 
duty of the Commanding General of the forces of this Confederacy 
to cause immediately to be hung, out of the commissioned officers, 
prisoners as aforesaid, a number equal to the number of our own 
citizens thus murdered by the enemy. 

By order, S. Cooper, 

Adjutant and Inspector General. 



Now here was a fine opportunity for the authorities at Wash- 
ington to stop the cartel and charge the " Rebels " with bad laith. 
They would doubtless have done so had we not held the excess of 
prisoners; but they simply indulged in a little high rhetoric, con- 
tinued the cartel, and caused Pope to cease his high-handed 
outrages. And so the cartel continued until July, 1863 — the Fed- 
eral authorities frequently violating its provisions, and the Con- 
federates carrying them out to the letter. 

The Report of Judge Ould, our Commissioner of Exchange, of 
December, 1863, and the accompanying documents, fully sustain 
this allegation, and we regret that our space will not allow us to 
give these documents in full. 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 303' 

We give the preliminary report, which indicates the points. 
made : 

COMMISSIONER OULD's EEPORT. 

Confederate States of America, 
War DEPARTaiENT, 
RichmoiLcl, Virginia, December 5th, 1863. 

Hon. James A. Seddon, Secretary of War : 

Sir — I have the honor to submit the accompanying corre- 
spondence between the Federal Agent of Exchange and myself: 

I have selected from the mass of correspondence, such letters as 
relate to matters of general interest, and especially to the subjects 
of controversy between us. 

1. Papers from one to twelve, inclusive, relate the arrest and de- 
tention of non-combatants. The Federal authorities have persist- 
ently refused to observe any reciprocal rule as to such parties. 
Their military commanders seem to have been permitted to make 
arrests of non-combatants without regard to their age, sex or situa- 
tion. After arrest, they have been thrown into prison and there 
indefinitely retained, in most cases, without charges. I have per- 
sistently contended that the whole subject of their capture of 
non-combatants, should be determined by rule, and not by arbitrary 
practice. This reasonable proposal, not receiving the assent of the 
enemy, the Confederate authorities have been forced, in some 
instances, to retain Federal non-combatants as a measure of re- 
taliation. 

2. Papers from thirteen to sixteen, inclusive, relate to the retention 
of exchanged and unexchanged officers and men. There are 
officers and men now in Federal prisons, who have been there ever . 
since the adoption of the cartel. I have brought to the attention 
of the United States authorities again and again the names of some 
of the parties who were confined in violation of the exchange 
agreements. In some cases, after long delay, the parties were re- 
leased. Others, however, are still languishing in confinement. 

3. Papers from seventeen to forty, inclusive, relate to the general 
orders of the enemy and their connection with declarations of ex- 
change. So anxious has the Confederate Government been to remove 
all obstacles to a general exchange of prisoners, that when the 
computation and adjustment of paroles was made a subject of 
difficulty by the enemy, we promptly agreed to determine the 
whole matter in accordance with the general orders, issued at 
Washington. This very liberal proposition has not been accepted 
by the Federal authorities, I have, however, by virtue of the pro- 
visions of the cartel, proceeded to make declarations of exchange, 
upon the basis of those general orders. In those declarations of 
exchange, I have not exceeded the valid paroles, which are on file 
in my office. The reply of the Federal agent to my letter of 
October 31st, 1863, was so personally offensive, that I was compelled 
to return it to him without any answer. 



304 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

4. Papers from forty-one to forty-seven, inclusive, relate to the 
confinement of General John H. Morgan and his officers in the 
penitentiary, at Columbus, Ohio. Though the Federal agent on 
the 30th of July, 1863, notified me that General John H. Morgan 
and his officers would be placed in close confinement, he informed 
me two months afterwards, that "the United States authorities had 
nothing to do with the treatment that General Morgan and his com- 
mand received when imprisoned at Columbus." 

5. Papers from forty-eight to fifty-seven, inclusive, relate to the 
detention of surgeons. Before the date of the cartel, surgeons were 
unconditionally released after capture. That rule was first adopted 
by the Confederate commanders, and was subsequently followed by 
the Federals. Some time ago, one Rucker was indicted by a grand 
jury in Virginia, for several felonies. Although Rucker was never 
a surgeon in the Federal service, the enemy held Surgeon Green of 
the Confederate navy, in retaliation. This caused retaliation on 
our part, in return, and surgeons were afterwards held in captivity 
on both sides. In this instance, the Federal authorities proved 
■that they were ready to sacrifice their own medical officers in an 
endeavour to secure the release of a felon in no way connected 
with their medical service. Rucker having recently escaped from 
jail, the surgeons on both sides have been released. 

6. Papers from fifty-eight to sixty-three, inclusive, relate to persons 
captured upon our rivers and the high seas.- By agreement made ^ 
with the Federal Agent of Exchange, all such who were captured 
before December 10th, 1862, were declared exchanged. In spite of 
that agreement, some of our pilots and sea captains were kept in 
confinement. The correspondence will fully show the refusal of 
the Federal authorities to adopt any fair and reciprocal rule, as to 
the further exchange of such persons. 

7. Papers numbered sixty-four and sixty-five, show the preten- 
sions of the enemy as to such persons as have been tried under the 
laws of a sovereign State for offences against the same. 

8. Papers from sixty-six to seventy -two, inclusive, embrace all 
the correspondence in which General E. A. Hitchcock has borne a 
part. It seems there are two commissioners of exchange on the 
part of the Federal Government. How far the authority of each 
extends, or how far one is subordinate to the other, has not as yet 
clearly appeared. The future may, perhaps, explain that they may 
be put to separate uses. The last letter of General Hitchcock, bear- 
ing date November 23d, 1863, I returned, with the following en- 
dorsement, to wit: " Protesting that the statement of facts contained 
in this paper is incorrect, I return it to its author as unfit to be 
either written or received." 

With this brief notice of the correspondence, I respectfully sub- 
mit it as my report. 

Respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

Ro, OuLD, Agent of Exchange. 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 305 

We can only cull a letter or two from this correspondence, which 
we hope some day to publish in full as a triumphant vindication 
of the course of our authorities : 

lieutenant-colonel ludlow to mr. ould. 

Headquabters Department of Virginia, 
Seventh Army Corps, 
Fort Monroe, Virginia, April 8, 18G3. 

Hon. Robert Ould, Agent for Exchange of Pi-isoners : 

Sir — The best mode of arranging all questions relating to 
exchange of officers, is to revoke, formally or informally, the 
offensive proclamation relating to our officers. 

I simply ask that you say, by authority, that such proclamation 
is revoked. The spirit of that proclamation was the infliction of 
personal indignities upon our officers, and as long as it remains 
unrepealed, it can be at any moment put in force by your authori- 
ties. What assurance have we that it will not be? 

I earnestly desire a return to the cartel in all matters pertaining 
to officers, and until such be the case, and uniformity of rule be 
thereby established, our exchanges of officers must be special. 
Some of our officers, paroled at Vicksburg, were subsequently 
placed in close confinement, and are now so held. If, hereafter, 
we parole any of your officers, such paroles will be offset against 
any which you may possess. At present the exchanges will be 
confined to such equivalents as are held in confinement on either 
side. 

I hope you will soon be able to remove all difficulties about 
! officers by the revocation I have mentioned. 

! By reference to the map, you will see tha't Fort Delaware is en 
route to Fort Monroe. It is used as a depot for the collecting of 
prisoners, sent from other places for shipment here, and is, from 
its peculiar position, "well adapted for convenience for exchanged 

If any mistake be found in the account of men paroled by 
Lieutenant-Colonel Richards, at Oxford, Mississippi, on the 22d 
of December, 1862, it can be rectified when we meet. 
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

Wm. H. Ludlow, 
Lieutenant- Colonel and Agent for Exchange of Prisoners. 

MR. OULD TO lieutenant-colonel LUDLOW. 

Richmond, April lltli, 1863. 
Lieutenant-Colonel William H. Ludlow, Agent of Exchange : 

Sir-^-Your letters of the 8th instant have been received, 
I am very much surprised at your refusal to deliver officers for 
Ithose of your own who have been captured, paroled, and released 
by us since the date of the proclamation and message of President 
6 



306 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

Davis That refusal is not only a flagrant breach of the cartel, 
but can be supported by no rule of reciprocity or equity. It is 
utterly useless to argue any such matter. I assure you that not 
one officer of any grade will be delivered to you until you change 
your purpose in that respect. 

You have charged us with breaking the cartel. With what sort 
of justice can that allegation be supported, when you delivered 
only a few days ago over ninety officers, most of whom had been 
forced to languish and suffer in prisons for months before we were 
compelled by that and other reasons to issue the retaliatory order 
of which you complain? Those ninety-odd are not one-half ot 
tho'^e whom you unjustly hold in prison. On the other hand, i 
defv vou to name the case of one who is confined by us, whom 
our agreement has declared exchanged. Is it your idea that we 
are to be bound by every strictness of the cartel, while you are at 
libertv to violate it for months, and that, too, not only m a tew 
instances, but in hundreds? You know that our refusal to parole 
officers was a matter exclusively of retaliation. It was based only 
upon your refusal to observe the requirements of the cartel. All 
that you had to do to remove the obnoxious measure of retaliation, 
was to observe the provisions of the cartel and redress the wrongs 
which had been perpetrated. 

Your last resolution, if persisted m, settles the matter. _ \ou 
need not send any officers to City Point with the expectation ol 
gettincr an equivalent in officers, so long as you refuse to dehver 
any fo^'r those whom we have released on parole m Tennessee and 
Kentucky. If captivity, privation, and misery are to be the tate 
of officers on both sides hereafter, let God judge between us. I 
have struggled in this matter, as if it had been a matter of life and 
death to me. I am heartsick at the termination, but I have no 

self reproaches. , -,. . 

Respectfully, your obedient servant, 

Robert Ould, 
Agent of Exchange. 

Judge Ould thus closes his correspondence with Colonel Ludlow : 

MR. OULD TO LIEUTENANT-COLONEL LUDL0"\V. 

Confederate States of America, 
War Department, 
Richmond, Vii-giniu, July 26, 1863. 

Colonel William H. Ludlow, Agent of Exclange : 

Sir_Your communication of the 22d contests my declara- 
tion of exchanges of officers made on the 17th instant. \ ou say 
"the cartel provides for the exchange of equal ranks, until such 
are exhausted, and then for equivalents." If you had been at 
Fortress Monroe, where you could have seen the cartel, instead ot 
Kew York, from which your letter is dated, you would liave written 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 307 

no such paragraph. There is nothing in the cartel which contains 
any such doctrine, or which favors it. Every provision is against 
it. Your own and my practice have been opposed to it. I again 
say to you what I have ah'eady stated in my communication of 
the 17th instant, that your assent is not needed to the declared ex- 
change, and I shall not notify the officers, whom I have declared 
exchanged, as you request. I have allowed you to declare ex- 
changes when the number of prisoners in our hands has been the 
greater. This has been the case from the day when we first met 
in the fall of last year, to the capture at Vicksburg. Now, when 
you have scarcely received official advices of your superiority in 
prisoners, you boast of the fact, and declare that I cannot give an 
equivalent for the general officers I have declared exchanged. The 
point you make is worth nothing, even as you have stated it. You 
know we have no lieutenant-generals or major-generals of yours 
in our hands. For that reason I have declared them exchanged 
in privates or inferior officers at your election. I had the right, 
under the cartel, to make the choice myself, but I preferred that 
you should do it, and therefore, I gave you the notification which 
I did. If, at any time, you present officers for exchange who have 
been paroled, and we have no officers of similar rank on parole, 
you can declare their exchange in privates. If, at this time, you 
have any officers of the rank I have declared exchanged, or of any 
other rank, or if you have any particular organization of privates 
or non-commissioned officers whom you wish exchanged, you have 
only to state such fact and your selection will be approved. If 
you hold the paroles of our officers of an}^ rank as you state, you 
have only to present them, and whatever is in our hands, whether 
on parole or in captivity, will be freely given in exchange for them. 
You say you have again and again invited me to a return to the 
cartel. Now that our official connection is being terminated, I say 
to you in the fear of God — and I appeal to Him for the truth of 
the declaration — that there has been no single moment, from the 
time when we were first brought together in connection with the 
matter of exchange to the present hour, during which there has 
not been an open and notorious violation of the cartel by your 
authorities. Officers and men, numbering over hundreds, have 
been, during your whole connection with the cartel, kept in cruel 
confinement, sometimes in irons, or doomed to cells, without 
charges or trial. They are in prison now, unless God, in His mercy, 
has released them. In our parting moments, let me do you the 
justice to say that I do not believe it is so much your fault as that 
of your authorities. Nay more, I believe your removal from your 
position has been owing to the personal efforts you have made for 
a faithful observance, not only of the cartel, but of humanity in 
the conduct of the war. 

Again and again have I importuned you to tell me of one officer 
or man now held in confinement by us, who was declared ex- 
changed. You have, to those appeals, furnished one — Spencer 



308 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

Kellog. For him I have searched in vain. On the other hand, I 
appeal to your own records for the cases where your reports have 
shown that our officers and men have been held for long months 
and even years in violation of the cartel and our agreements. The 
last phase of the enormity, however, exceeds all others. Although 
you have many thousands of our soldiers now in confinement in 
3''our prisons, and especially in that horrible hold of death. Fort 
Delaware, you have not, for several weeks, sent us any prisoners. 
During those weeks you have dispatched Captain Mulford with 
the steamer New York to City Point, three or four times, without 
any prisoners. For the first two or three times some sort of an 
excuse was attempted. None is given at this present arrival. I do 
not mean to be offensive when I say that effrontery could not give 
one. I ask you with no purpose of disrespect, what can you 
think of this covert attempt to secure the delivery of all your 
prisoners in our hands, without the release of those of ours who 
are languishing in hopeless misery in your prisons and dungeons ? 
Respectfully, your obedient servant, 

Robert Ould, 
Agent 0/ Exchange. 

Though there were these difficulties in reference to exchange, 
and these evasions and violations of the cartel by the Federal 
authorities, the paroles given captured prisoners were respected 
until July, 1863, when the following order was issued by the 
Federal Secretary of War : 

Wae Department, 
Adjutant-General's Office, 
Washington, July 3, 18G3. 
General Orders No. 209. 

1. The attention of all persons in the military service of the 
United States is called to article 7 of the cartel agreed upon July 
22d, 1862, and published in General Oorders No. 142, September 
25th, 1862. According to the terms of this cartel all captures must 
be reduced to actual possession, and all prisoners of war must be 
delivered at the places designated, there to be exchanged or paroled 
until exchange can be effected. The only exception allowed is the 
case of commanders of two opposing armies, who were authorized 
to exchange prisoners or to release them on parole at other points 
mutually agreed upon by said commanders. 

2. It is understood that captured officers and men have been 
paroled and released in the field by others than commanders of 
opposing armies, and that the sick and wounded in hospitals have 
been so paroled and released in order to avoid guarding and re- 
moving them, which in many cases would have been impossible. 
Such paroles are in violation of general orders and the stipulations 
of the cartel, and are null and void. The}'- are not regarded by the 
enemy, and will not be respected by the armies of the United 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 309 

States. Any officer or soldier who gives such parole will be returned 
to duty without exchange, and, moreover, will be punished for 
disobedience of orders. It is the duty of the captor to guard his 
prisoners, and if through necessity or choice he fails to do this, it 
is the duty of the prisoner to return to the service of his Govern- 
ment. He cannot avoid this duty by giving an unauthorized 
military parole. 

3. A military parole not to serve until exchanged must not be 
confounded with a parole of honor to do or not to do a particular 
thing not inconsistent with the duty of a soldier ; thus a prisoner 
of war actually held by the enemy may, in order to obtain exemp- 
tion from a close guard or confinement, pledge his parole of honor 
that he will make no attempt at escape. Such pledges are binding 
upon the individuals giving them ; but they should seldom be given 
or received, for it is the duty of a prisoner to escape if able to do 
so. Any pledge or parole extorted from a prisoner by ill usage is 
not binding. 

4. The obligations imposed by the general laws and usages of 
war upon the combatant inhabitants of a section of country passed 
over by" an invading army closes when the military occupation 
ceases, and any pledge or parole given by such persons, in regard 
to future service, is null and of no effect. 

By order of the Secretary of war. 

[Signed] E. D. Townsend, A. A. G. 

Upon this order General J. A. Early, in a recent communication, 
makes the following eminently just comments: 

It is very manifest that that order was issued for the purpose of 
embarrassing General Lee's army with the guarding and feeding 
of the prisoners, amounting to several thousand, then in our hands; 
and in consequence of the order, information of which reached us 
immediately, General Lee sent a flag of truce to Meade on the 4th 
of July, after the close of the battle, with a proposition to exchange 
prisoners. The latter declined the proposition, alleging a want of 
authority to make the exchange, or, from his own views of policy, 
he positively declined to entertain the proposition ; I am not certain 
which. 

According to the laws of war in the earliest ages a captive in war 
forfeited his life. Subsequently, in the cause of humanity, the 
penalty of death was commuted to slavery for life; and this con- 
tinued to be a law of war for more than one-half of the Christian 
era, notwithstanding it has been so often said that slavery disap- 
peared in Europe before the spirit of Christianity ; in fact, it was 
the vast number of captives in war reduced to slavery from among 
the Sclavi or Sclavonians, in the eighth century, under that bul- 
wark of the Church, Charlemagne, that caused the distinctive and 
modern appellation of "slaves" to be applied to all those held to 
involuntary servitude. In the age of chivalry, when knights- 



310 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

errant, and more especially the Crusaders, wanted money more 
than they did slaves, they sold their slaves their freedom ; and the 
practice of releasing prisoners for a ransom was resorted to, and 
continued to be a law of war until a comparatively modern date, 
when, with the growth of regular armies, the practice of releasing 
prisoners on parole became a recognized rule of civilized warfare 
among Christian nations. It has never, however, been a law of 
war that the obligation of a prisoner to observe his parole depends 
upon the assent of his own Government; but, on the contrary, the 
right of a prisoner to obtain his release from captivity by giving 
his parole of honor not to serve against his captors until exchanged 
or otherwise released is derived from the fact that by his captivity 
he is placed beyond the protection of his Government, and there- 
fore has the right to provide for his own safety by giving the re- 
quisite pledge, and all civilized nations recognize the binding force 
of that pledge or parole. 

The rule is laid down by Vattel, pp. 414 and 415, as follows : 

"Individuals, whether belonging to the army or not, who happen 
singly to foll'in with the enemy are, by tlie urgent necessity of the 
circumstance, left to their own discretion, and may, so far as con- 
cerns their own persons, do everything which a commander might 
do with respect to himself and the troops under his command. If, 
therefore, in consequence of the situation in. which they are in- 
volved, they make any promise, such promise (provided it do not 
extend to matters which can never lie within the sphere of a pri- 
vate individual) is valid and obligatory, as being made with com- 
petent powers. For, when a subject can neither receive his sover- 
eign's orders nor enjoy his protection, he resumes his natural 
rights, and is to provide for his own safety by any just and honor- 
able means in his power. Hence, if that individual has promised 
a sum for his ransom, the sovereign, so far from having the power 
to discharge him from his promise, should oblige him to fulfil it. 

"Tlie good of the State requires that faith should be kept on such 
occasions, and that subjects should have this mode of saving their 
lives or recovering their liberty. 

"Thus, a prisoner who is released on his parole is bound to ob- 
serve it with scrupulous punctuality, nor has the sovereign a right 
to oppose such observance of his engagement; for had not the pri- 
soner thus given his parole he would not have been released." 

The same doctrine is laid down by publicists generally. 

The question of exchange of prisoners is a matter for agreement 
between the opposing powers, but the question of the parole is not. 
The i^aroles stipulated for in the cartel of July, 1862, Avere paroles 
with a view to subsequent exchange, and the stipulation did not 
create the right of a prisoner of war to be released from captivity 
on his parole , that existed prior to and independent of the cartel. 
It existed by virtue of a "higher law" [if I may be permitted to 
use a phrase so much in vogue in former times among those who 
now attach so much importance to unwavering fiidelity to the Con- 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 311 

stitution, in their view of it], than an order from the Federal Sec- 
retary of War — the law of self-preservation. If I had found myself 
at any time during the war a prisoner in the hands of the enemy, 
about to be dragged to a Northern prison, where I am sure con- 
finement for a very short time would have killed me or run me 
mad, and my captors had been humane enough to release me on 
my parole of honor not to serve again until exchanged, I am sure 
I would have thought my Government more barbarous than the 
enemy if it had required of me a violation of my parole and a re- 
turn to duty without exchange; but I feel confident no such dis- 
honor would ever have been required of me by that Government, 
for I do know that the paroles of some of mj'- own men, captured 
at Williamsburg on the 5th of May, 1862, more than two months 
Taefore the cartel was adopted, and for special reasons paroled with- 
in a week of their capture, were respected, and they were regularly 
exchanged. 

Mr. Stanton, in issuing the order of the 3d of July, 1863, violated 
the laws of civilized warfare, and the statement contained therein 
that the Confederate Government ("the enemy") had pursued the 
same course was a mere pretext to give color to his own unwar- 
rantable act. But for that order all the prisoners captured by us 
at Gettysburg, amounting to fully six thousand, would have been 
paroled; and, in fact, the proper staff officers were proceeding to 
parole them, and had actually paroled and released a large num- 
ber of them, when the news came of the order referred to. Why 
•did Mr. Stanton object to the parolling of those prisoners? and why 
did he prefer that they should be confined in prisons in the South — • 
"prison pens," as Northern Republicans are pleased to call them — 
rather than that they should be sent to their own homes on parole, 
there to remain in comfort until duly exchanged, if it was not to 
embarrass the Confederate Government with the custody and sup- 
port of them, regardless of any consideration for their health or 
their lives? If he did not think proper to exchange Confederate 
prisoners in his hands for them he could have refused to do so ; 
and certainly their presence at their own homes could have done 
no harm to his cause; most assuredly not more than their confine- 
ment in a prison, in a climate to which they were unaccustomed. 
If the rule asserted in his order is among the laws and usages of 
war, then it must follow that if General Lee had not been able to 
guard or feed the prisoners in his hands he would have had the 
right to resort to that dread alternative to which the first Napoleon 
resorted in Egypt when he found the paroles granted by him not 
respected, and destroy the prisoners in his hands. If any of the 
prisoners brought from Gettysburg, or subsequently captured, lost 
their lives at Andersonville, or any other Southern prison, is it not 
palpable that the resj)onsibility for their deaths rested on Edwin 
M. Staunton? 

In consequence of the order one division commander, who fell 
into our hands, wounded, whom we could have brought off, though 



312 Southern Historical Society Pajjers. 

at the risk of his life, and a large niimher of other prisoners who 
were paroled (two or three thousand), were returned to duty in the 
Federal army v/ithout exchange; and among them was a Colonel, 
who pledged his honor that he would surrender himself and his 
regiment (paroled at the same time) if the validity of the parole 
was not recognized by his Government. 

Unfortunately, the capture of Vickshurg and Port Hudson, and 
the captures at Gettysburg, now gave the Federal Government a 
large excess of prisoners actually in hand, and enabled them to 
carry out the policy which they had all along evidently preferred. 
Instead of fulfilling the terms of the cartel, they cooly notified 
Judge Ould that henceforth ^^ exchanges will he confined to such equiva- 
lents as are held in confinement on either side.''^ The plain meaning of 
this was that the Federal Government treated as a nulity the terms 
of the cartel, and the large number of paroles which the Confederates 
held against them, and proposed to exchange man for man of those 
actually in prison, which would have released every single prisoner 
held by the Confederacy, and left some thousands of our own 
brave soldiers to languish and die in hopeless captivity, notwith- 
standing the fact that the Confederates (carrying out the terms of 
the cartel) had already paroled their equivalents of Federal" soldiers. 
The Confederate Commissioner, of course, indignantly rejected this 
proposition, and the subsequent correspondence until August 10th, 
1864, abounds in earnest efforts on the part of Judge Ould to in- 
duce the Federal authorities to return to the cartel, and their 
quibbles, excuses, and evasions. We very much regret that we 
have not space to publish this correspondence in full. Indeed we 
could desire no better vindication of the Confederacy than the 
publication of every letter which passed between the commissioners. 
Our cause suffered nothing in the hands of our able and high- 
minded commissioner. Judge Ould. 

On the 10th of August, 1864, seeing the hopelessness of effecting 
further exchanges on any fair terms, Judge Ould wrote the letter 
(which we gave in our last number), proposing to accept the terms 
offered by the other side, and to exchange man for man of actual 
captives. 

Notwithstanding the fact that this was their own proposition, and 
would have Avorketi largely in their favor as it ignored the thou- 
sands of paroles held by the Confederates and would have released 
all Federal prisoners and have left a large number of Confederates 
in captivity, the Federal authorities never deigned to give an ansioer 



Ti^ealment of Prisoners During the War. 313 

to this letter. They would neither carry out the terms of the parole, 
nor abide by their own proposition when it was accepted. 

There were various complications which arose during the suspen- 
sion of the cartel, but the plain meaning of them all was that the 
Federal Government had deliberately adopted as their war policy 
the non-exchange of prisoners. 

We will briefly notice several of these complications. 

In December, 1863, 3Iaj or- General B. F. Butler was appointed 
Special Commissioner for the exchange of prisoners on the part of 
the Federal Government. The infamous conduct of this officer in 
New Orleans had excited the detestation of the civilized world, 
and' had caused the Confederate Government to declare him an 
outlaw. And yet Mr. Stanton, in selecting an agent ■ to overcome 
difficulties in the way of exchange, passed by all of his other officers 
and selected this most obnoxious jDersonage. What fair-minded 
man can doubt that the object in selecting this agent was really to 
prevent an exchange f But in their eager desire to effect an exchange, 
the Confederates finally determined to treat even with General 
Butler, and accordingly Judge Quid went to Fortress Monroe and 
had a protracted interview with him. To do General Butler justice, 
he seemed even more liberal in the matter of exchange than his 
superiors had been, and after a full discussion of all the points at 
iss.ue a neio cartel was agreed upon. 

When all of the points had been agreed to on both sides, and 
copies of the new cartel made. Judge Ould said to him: "Now, 
General, I am fully authorized to sign that paper in behalf of my 
Government, and we will close the matter by signing, sealing and 
delivering it here and now." General Butler replied that he had ' 
not the authority to sign the paper, but would refer it to his Govern- 
ment, and use all of his influence to induce its approval. Lieutenant- 
General U. S. Grant disapproved of the arrangement, and the 
Federal Government refused to confirm it. We have the proof of 
this in several forms. 

We clip the following from a Northern paper published not long 
after the close of the war : 

• General Butler said at Hamilton, Ohio, the other day, that while 
he never answered anonymous newspaper attacks, he felt it his 
duty here at Hamilton to refute a slander which had been circu- 
lated from this platform a few days ago by a gentleman of standing 
in advocating the election of the Democratic candidate. 

He has chosen to say that I am responsible for the starvation of 



314 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

our prisoners at Belle Isle and Andersonville, by refusing to ex- 
change soldiers because the Rebels did not recognize the negroes in 
our service as regular soldiers. 

I don't propose to criticise anybody, or to say who was right or 
who was wrong, but I propose to state the exact facts, because it 
has been widely charged against me, that in order to rescue the 
negro soldiers I preferred tliat 30,000 of our men should starve 
rather than agree that the negro should not be exchanged. 

Whatever I might have thought it best to have done, I am only 
here to-day to say that I did not do it. The duties of Commissioner 
of Exchange were put in my hands. I made an arrangement to 
have an exchange effected — man for man, officer for officer. I 
communicated my plan to General Streight, of Indiana, who is 
here to-day. and who had then just escaped from the Libby. I 
told him how I proposed to get our negro soldiers out of rebel ■ 
hands. 

We had 60,000 or thereabout of their prisoners. They had 
30,000 of ours, or thereabout. I don't give the exact numbers, as I 
quote from memory ; but these are the approximate numbers. 

I proposed to go on and exchange with the rebels, man for man, 
officer for officer, until I got 30,000 of our men, and then I would 
still have had 30,000 of theirs left in my hands. And then I pro- 
posed to twist these 30,000 until I got the negroes out of the Rebels. 
[Applause.] I made this arrangement with the Confederate Com- 
missioner. This was on the 1st of April, before we commenced to 
move on that campaign of 18G4, from the Rapid Ami to the James, 
around Richmond. At that time the Lieutenant-General visited 
my headquarters, and I told him what I had done. He gave me 
certain verbal directions. What they were I shall not say, because 
I have his instructions in writing. But I sent my proposition for 
exchange to the Government of the United States. It was referred 
to the Lieutenant-General. He ordered me not to give the Con- 
federates another man in exchange. 

I telegraphed back to him in these words : 

" Your order shall be obeyed, but I assume you do not mean to 
interfere with the exchange of the sick and wounded ?" 

He replied : " Take all the sick and wounded you can get, but 
don't give them another man." 

You can see that even with sick and wounded men this system 
would soon cause all exchanges to stop. 

It did stop. It stopped right there, in April, 1S64, and was not 
resumed until August, 1864, when Mr. Ould, the Rebel Commis- 
sioner, again wrote me: " We will exchange man for man, officer 
for officer," and saying nothing about colored troops. 

I laid this dispatch before the Lieutenant-General. His answer, 
in writing, was substantially: " If you give the rebels the 30,000 
men whom we hold, it will insure the defeat of General Sherman 
and endanger our safety here around Richmond.'' I wrote an 
argument, offi^nsively put, to the Confederate Commissioners, so 
that they could stop all further offers of exchange. 



Treatment of Prisoners Daring the War. 315 

I say nothing about the policy of this course ; I offer no criticism 

f it whatever ; I only say that whether it be a good or a bad 

jpolicy, it was not mine, and that my part in it was wholly in 

jobedience to orders from my commanding officer, the Lieutenant- 

Xjreneral. 

I Upon another occasion General Butler used this strong language: 

j "The great importance of the question-; the fearful responsibility 
Ifor the many thousands of lives which, by the refusal to exchange, 
Avere sacrificed by the most cruel forms of death ; from cold, starva- 
Ition, and pestilence of the prison pens of Raleigh and Anderson- 
'ville, being more than all the British soldiers killed in the wars of 
Napoleon; the anxiety of fathers, brothers, sisters, mothers, wives, 
ito know the exigency which caused this terrible — and perhaps as 
it may have seemed to them useless and unnecessary — destruction 
of those dear to them, by horrible deaths; each and all have com- 
pelled me to this exposition, so that it may be seen that these lives 
were spent as a part of the system of attack upon the rebellion, de- 
;vised by the wisdom of the General-in-chief of the armies, to de- 
stroy it by depletion, depending upon our superior numbers to win 
the victory at last. 

"The loyal mourners will doubtless derive solace from this fact, 
and appreciate all the more highly the genius which conceived the 
l^lan and the success won at so great a cost." 

The New York Tribune will also be accepted as competent 
authority. Referring to the occurrences of 1864, the Tribune edi- 
torially says : 

"In August the Rebels offered to renew the exchange, man for 
man. General Grant then telegraphed the following important 
order: 'It is hard on our men, held in Southern prisons, not to 
exchange them, but it is humanity to those left in the ranks to 
fight our battles. Every man released on parole or otherwise be- 
comes an active soldier against us at once, either directly or indi- 
rectly. If we commence a system of exchange which liberates all 
prisoners taken, we will have to fight on till the whole South is 
exterminated. If we hold those caught, they amount to no more 
than dead men. At this particular time, to release all Rebel pris- 
oners North would insure Sherman's defeat, and would comj^romise 
our safety here.'" 

Here is even a stronger statement from a Northern source : 

"New York, August Sth, 18G5. 

'^Moreover, General Butler^ in his speech at Lowell, Massachusetts^ 
stated positively that he had been ordered by Mr. Stanton to put forward 
the negro question to complicate and prevent the exchange. ***** 
Every one is aware that, when the exchange did take place, not the 
slightest alteration had occurred in the question, and that our pris- 
oners might as ivell have been released twelve or eighteen months before 



316 Southern Historical Society Papers. 



as at the resumption of the cartel, which, would have saved to the Republic 
at least tivelve or fifteen thousand heroic lives. That they were not saved 
is due alone to Mr. Edivin M. Stanton's peculiar policy and dogged 
obstinacy ; and, as I have remarked before, he is unquestion- 
ably THE digger op THE UNNAMED GRAVES THAT CROWD THE VICINITY \ 
OF EVERY SOUTHERN PRISON WITH HISTORIC AND NEVER-TO-BE-FORGOTTEN 
HORRORS. 

" Once for all, let me declare that I have never found fault with 
any one because I was detained in prison, for I am well aware that \^ 
that was a matter in which no one but myself, and possibly a few 
personal friends, would feel any interest; that my sole motive for 
impeaching the Secretary of War was that the people of the loyal h 
North might know to ivhom they were indebted for the cold-blooded and j 
needless sacrifice of their fathers and brothers, tlieir husbands and their 
sons. 

" Junius Henri Browne." 



H) 



General Butler also produced upon another occasion the follow- 
ing telegram, which ought to be conclusive on this question : 

" City Point, August 18th, 1864. 

" To General Butler — I am satisfied that the chief object of your 
interview, besides having the proper sanction, meets with my entire h\ 
approval. I have seen, from Southern papers, that a system of • 
retaliation is going on in the South, which they keep from us, and 
which we should stop in some way. On the subject of exchange, 
however, I differ from General Hitchcock ; it is hard on our men 
held in Southern prisons not to exchange them, but it is humanity 
to those left in the ranks to fight our battles. Every man released 
on parole, or otherwise, becomes an active soldier against us at once, 
either directly or indirectly. If we commence a system of exchange 
which liberates all prisoners taken, we will have to fight on until 
the whole South is exterminated. If we hold those caught, they 
amount to no more than dead men. At this particular time, to release 
all Rebel prisoners North would insure Sherman's defeat, and would 
compromise our safety here. 

"U.S.Grant, 
" Lieutenant- GeneraV 

We think that the above testimony settles beyond all controversy 
that General U. S. Grant, Secretary Stanton, and Mr. Lincoln, were 
responsible for the refusal to exchange prisoners in 1864. 

But the following extract from the 

TESTIMONY OF GENERAL GRANT 

before the Committee on the Conduct of the War, given February 

11th, 1865, may be added as an end of controversy on this point: 

Question. It has been said that we refused to exchange prisoners 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 317 

because we found ours starved, diseased, unserviceable when we 
received them, and did not like to exchange sound men for such 
men? 

Answer. There. never has been any such reason as that. That 
has been a reason for making exchanges. / 'will confess that if our 
men who are prisoners in the South were really well taken care of, suffer- 
ing nothing except a little privation of liberty, then, in a military point 
of view, it would not he good policy for us to exchange, because every man 
they get back is forced right into the army at once, while that is not the 
case with our prisoners ivhen we receive them. In fact, the half of our 
returned prisoners will never go into the army again, and none of 
them will until after they have had a furlough of thirty or sixty 
days. Still, the fact of their suffering as they do is a reason for 
making this exchange as rapidly as possible. 

Question. And never has been a reason for not making the 
exchange ? 

Answer. It never has. Exchanges having been suspended by 
reason of disagreement on the part of agents of exchange on both 
sides before I came in command of the armies of the United States, 
and it then being near the opening of the spring campaign, I did 
,not deem it advisable or just to the men who had to fight our battles to re- 
\ enforce the enemy with thirty or forty thousand discipilined troops at that 
time. An immediate resumption of exchanges would have had that 
I effect "without giving us corresponding benefits. The suffering said 
to exist among our prisoners South was a powerful argument against 
ithe course pursued, and I so felt it. 

I We had intended to discuss fully 

THE NEGRO QUESTION 

in its bearing upon exchange of prisoners, but find that we have 
barely space to state it. When the war began the Federal Govern- 
ment distinctly declared that it had no power and no desire to inter- 
fere ivith slavery in the States. But as it progressed the slaves' were 
not only declared free, but were enlisted as soldiers in the United 
iStates armies. The question at once arose whether the Confederate 
j 'Government should recognize these captured slaves as prisoners of 
ifwar, or should remand them to their masters, from whom they 
! had been forcibly taken. The Confederates, of course, took the 
ground that as both the constitution of the United States and that 
of the Confederacy recognized slaves as the property of their own- 
lers, when these slaves were abducted and enlisted "in the Federal 
army, their masters had a right to reclaim them whenever and 
'wherever they could recapture them. 

General Butler says that he was directed by his Government to 
put forward this question offensively, in order to stop exchanges; but 



318 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

even General Butler agreed to a cartel which virtually settled, or 
at least postponed the question, and we have most abundant 
evidence that this was a mere subterfuge to 'prevent exchange. 
Nor are we able at present to enter more fully into the 

EFFORTS OF THE CONFEDERACY TO EFFECT AN EXCHANGE. 

The mission of Vice-President A. H. Stephens, in 18G3, resulted 
in failure, because Vicksburg and Gettysburg made the United 
States authorities feel that they were in a position to refuse even 
an audience to the "Rebel" commissioner. 

General Lee's overtures to General Grant and to the Federal 
Government (through the United States Sanitary Commission) 
were equally futile; and the delegation of Anderson ville prisoners, 
which Mr. Davis paroled to visit the President of the United States 
and plead for an exchange, were denied an audience, and were 
spurned from Washington, to carry back the sad tidings that their 
Government held out no hope of their release. 

We have a letter from the wife of the chairman of that delegation 
(now dead), in which she says that her husband always said that 
he was more contemptuously treated by Secretary Stanton than he ever 
was at Andersonville. 

We add upon this point the following letter in the Philadelphia 
Times, which was elicited by the recent discussion: 

Clifton, Pennsylvania, February 7tli, 1S76. 

I am certainly no admirer of Jefferson Davis or the late Con- 
federacy, but in justice to him and that the truth may be known, 
I Avould state that I was a prisoner of war for twelve months, and 
was in Andersonville when the delegation of prisoners spoken of 
by Jefferson Davis left thereto plead our cause with the authorities 
at Washington ; and nobody can tell, unless it be a shipw^recked 
and famished mariner, who sees a vessel approaching and then 
passing on without rendering the required aid,, what fond hopes 
were raised, and how hope sickened into despair waiting for the 
answer that never came. In my opinion, and that of a good many 
others, a good part of the responsibility for the horrors of Ander- 
sonville rests with General U. S. Grant, who refused to make a fair 
exchange of prisoners. 

Henry M. Brennan, 
Late Private Second Pennsylvania Cavalry. 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 319 

We will close our case, for the present, with the following im- 
portant testimony, which should surely, of itself, be sufficient to 
settle this question before any fair tribunal : 

LETTER OF CHIEF- JUSTICE SHEA. 

The New York Tribune of the 24th January, 1876, publishes the 
following letter from Judge Shea, which was called forth by Mr. 
Blaine's accusations on the floor of the House of Representatives. 
The Tribune introduces the letter, with the following additional 
comments : 

Chief-Justice George Shea, of the Marine Court, who sends us an 
interesting letter about Jefferson Davis, was, as is well known, the 
principal agent in securing the signatures of Mr. Greeley, Gerrit 
Smith, and others to Mr. Davis's bail bond. The essential point of 
his present statement is that Mr. Greeley and the other gentlemen 
whom he approached on that subject were unwilling to move in 
the matter until entirely satisfied as to Mr. Davis's freedom from the 
guilt of intentional cruelty to Northern prisoners at Andersonville; 
that Judge Shea, at the instance of Mr. Greeley and Vice-President 
Wilson, went to Canada to inspect the journals of the secret sessions 
of the Confederate Senate — documents which up to this time have 
never passed into the hands of our Government, or been accessible 
to Northern readers; that from these secret records, including 
numerous messages from Davis on the subject, it conclusively 
appeared that the Rebel Senate believed the Southern prisoners 
were mistreated at the North ; that they were eager for retaliation, 
and that Davis strenuously and to the end resisted these efforts ; 
and that he attempted to send Vice-President Stephens North to 
consult with President Lincoln on the subject. No more important 
statements than these concerning that phase of the civil war have 
been given to the public. They shed light upon the course of Mr. 
Greeley and other eminent citizens of the North ; and it seems to 
us clear that, on many accounts, the Rebel authorities owe it to 
themselves and to history to give to the public the documents 
which Judge Shea was permitted to see. It is not likely that they 
will have any material eff'ect upon the fate of Mr. Davis, or upon 
political questions now pending. But they are of vital consequence 
to any correct history of the rebellion, and their revelations, if 
sustaining throughout the portions submitted to Judge Shea, 
might do as much to promote as the late Andersonville debate did 
to retard the reconciliation of the sections. 

To the Editor of the Tribune : 

Sir — I apprehend no one will accuse me with having ever har- 
bored disunion proclivities, or of any inclination toward secession 
heresies. But truth is truth, justice is justice, and an act of pro- 
posed magnanimity should not be impaired by both an untruth 



320 Southern Historieal Society Papers. 

and an injustice. The statement in the House of Representatives 
on Thursday last, made by General Banks during the debate on 
the proposed amnesty bill, was more entirely correct than, perhaps, 
he had reason to credit. 

What I now relate are facts : Mr. Horace Greeley received a letter, 
dated June 22d, 1865, from Mrs. Jefferson Davis. It was written 
at Savannah, Georgia, where Mrs. Davis and her family were then 
detained under a sort of military restraint. Mr. Davis himself, 
recently taken prisoner, was at Fortress Monroe; and the most 
conspicuous special chauge threatened against him by the " Bureau 
of Military Justice" was of guilty knowledge relating to the assas- 
sination of President Lincoln. The principal purpose of the letter 
was imploring Mr. Greeley to bring about a speedy trial of her 
husband upon that charge, and upon all other supposed cruelties 
that were inferred against him. A public trial was praj'-ed that the 
accusations might be as publicly met, and her husband, as she 
insisted could be done, readily vindicated. To this letter Mr. 
Greeley at once forwarded an answer for Mrs. Davis, directed to the 
care of General Burge, commanding our military forces at Savannah. 
The morning of the next day Mr. Greeley came to my residence in 
this city, placed the letter from Mrs. Davis in my hand, saying that 
lie could not believe the charge to be true ; that aside from the 
enormity and want of object, it would have been impolitic in Mr. 
Davis, or any other leader in the Southern States, as they could 
not but be aware of Mr. Lincoln's naturally kind heart and his good 
intentions toward them all; and Mr. Greeley asked me to become 
professionally interested in behalf of Mr. Davis. I called to Mr. 
Greeley's attention that, although I was like-minded with himself 
as to this one view of the case, yet there was the other pending 
charge of cruel treatment of our Union soldiers while prisoners at 
Andersonville and other places, and that, unless our Government 
was willing to have it imputed that Wirz was convicted and his 
sentence of death inflicted unjustly, it could not now overlook the 
superior who was, at least popularly, regarded as the moving cause 
of those wrongs; and that if Mr. Davis had been guilty of such 
breach of the rules for the conduct of war in modern civilization, 
he was not entitled to the right of, nor to bje manumitted as a mere 
prisoner of war. I expressed the thought that my services before 
a military tribunal would be of little benefit. I hesitated ; but 
finally told Mr. Greeley that I would consult with some of our 
common friends, whose countenance would give strength to such 
an undertaking, if it was discovered to be right, and that none but 
Republicans and some of the radical kind were likely to be of 
positive aid; indeed, any other would have been injurious. It 
occurred to me, from recollecting conversations with Mr. Henry 
Wilson, the previous April, while we were together at Hilton Head, 
South Carolina, that if Mr. Davis were guiltless of this latter 
offence, an avenue ^iiight be opened for a speedy trial, or for his 
manumission as any other prisoner of war. I did consult with 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 321 

such friends, and Mr. Henry Wilson, Governor John A. Andrew, 
Mr. Thaddeus Stevens, and Mr. Gerrit Smith were among them. 
The result was that I thereupon undertook to do whatever became 
feasible. Although not in strictness required to elucidate our 
present intent, it is, nevertheless, becoming the history of the case 
simply to mention that Mr. Charles. 'Conor was, from the first, 
esteemed the most valuable man to lead for the defence by Mr. 
Greeley and Mr. Gerrit Smith. A Democrat of pronounced repute, 
Btill his appearance would import no partisan aspect to the great 
.argument, and would excite no feelings but those of admiration 
and respect among even extreme men of opposite opinion. Public 
expectation looked to him, and soon after it was made known that 
he had already volunteered his services to Mr. Davis. Mr. O 'Conor's 
course during the war was decided, understood, and consistent, but 
never offensive nor intrusive ; his personal honor without reproach • 
his courage without fear ; his learning, erudition, propriety of pro- 
fessional judgment conceded as most eminent. 

There was a general agreement among the gentlemen of the Re- 
publican party whom I have mentioned that Mr. Davis did not, by 
thought or act, participate in a conspiracy against Mr. Lincoln ; and 
none of those expressed that ^conviction more emphatically than Mr. 
Thaddeus Stevens. The single subject on which light was desired 
by them was concerning the treatment of our soldiers while in the 
hands of the enemy. The Tribune of May 17th, 1865, tells the real 
condition of feeling at that moment, and unequivocally shows that it 
was not favorable to Mr. Davis on this matter. At the instance of 
Mr. Greeley, Mr. Wilson and, as I was given to understand, of 
Mr. Stevens, I went to Canada the first week in January, 1866 
taking Boston on my route, there to consult with Governor Andrew 
and others. While at Montreal, General John C. Breckinridge 
came from Toronto, at my request, for the purpose of giving me 
information. There I had placed in my possession the official 
archives of the Government of the Confederate States, which I read 
and considered — especially all those messages and other acts of the 
Executive with the Senate in its secret sessions concerning the care 
and exchange of prisoners. I found that the supposed inhuman 
and unwarlike treatment of their own captured soldiers by agents 
of our Government was a most prominent and frequent topic. 
That those reports current then — perhaps even to this hour — in the 
South were substantially incorrect is little to the practical purpose. 
From those documents — not made to meet the public eye, but used 
in secret session, and from inquiries by me of those thoroughly 
conversant with the state of Southern opinion at the time — it was 
manifest that the people of the South believed those reports to be 
trustworthy, and they individually, and through their representa- 
tives at Richmond, pressed upon Mr. Davis, as the Executive and 
as the Commander-in-Chief of the army and nav}--, instant recourse 
to active measures of retaliation, to the end that the supposed 
cruelties might be stayed. Mr. Davis's conduct under such urgency 
7 



322 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

and, indeed, expostulation, was a circumstance all-important in de- 
termining the probability of this charge as to himself. It was 
equally and decisively manifest, by the same sources of information, 
that Mr. Davis steadily and unflinchingly set himself in opposition 
to the indulgence of such demands, and declined to resort to any 
measure of violent retaliation. It impaired his personal influence, 
and brought much censure upon him from many in the South, who 
sincerely believed the reports spread among the people to be really 
true. The desire that something should be attempted from which 
a better care of prisoners could be secured seems to have grown so 
strong and prevalent that, on July 2d, 1863, Mr. Davis- accepted the 
proffered service of Mr. Alexander H. Stephens, the Vice-President, 
to proceed as a military commissioner to Washington. The sole 
purpose of Mr. Davis in allowing that commission appears, from 
the said documents, Avhich I read, to have been to place the war on 
the footing of such as are waged by civilized people in modern 
times, and to divest it of a savage character, which, it was claimed, 
had been impressed on it in spite of all eff'ort and protest; and al- 
leged instances of such savage conduct were named and averred. 
This project was prevented, as Mr. Stephens was denied permission 
by our Administration to approach Washington, and intercourse 
with him prohibited. On his return, after this rejected effort to 
produce a mutual kindness in the treatment' of prisoners, Southern 
feeling became more unquiet on the matter than ever; yet it clearly 
appears that Mr. Davis would not yield to the demand for re- 
taliation. 

The evidence tending to show this to be the true condition of 
the case as to Mr. Davis himself was brought by me and submitted 
to Mr. Greeley, and in part to Mr. Wilson. The result was, these 
gentlemen, and those others in sympathy with them, changed their 
former suspicion to a favorable opinion and a friendly disposition. 
They were from this time kept informed of each movement as 
made to liberate Mr. ,QMjA or to compel the Government to bring 
the prisoner to trialT^Tu this took place before counsel, indeed 
before any one acting on his behalf, was allowed to communicate 
with or see him. 

The Tribune now, at once, began a series of leading editorials de- 
manding that our Government proceed with the trial ; and on 

nuarv^ 16, 1866, incited by those editorials, Senator Howard, of 
_fui, offered a joint resolution, aided by Mr. Sumner, " recom- 
ing the trial of Jefferson Davis and Clement C. Clay before a 
military tribunal or court-martial, for charges mentioned in the 
report of the Secretary of War, of March 4, 1866." It will be in- 
teresting to mention now that if a trial proceeded in this manner, 
I was then creditably informed, Mr. Thaddei* Stevens had volun- 
teered as counsel for Mr. Clay. 

After it had become evident that there was no immediate pros- 
pect of any trial, if any prospect at all, the counsel for Mr. Davis 
became anxious that their client be liberated on bail, and one of 




Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 323 

them consulted with Mr. Greeley as to the feasibility of procuring 
some names as bondsmen of persons who had conspicuously op- 
posed the war of secession. This was found quite easy ; and Mr. 
Gerrit Smith and Commodore Vanderbilt were selected, and Mr. 
Greeley, in case his name should be found necessary. All this 
could not have been accomplished had not those gentlemen, and 
others in sympathy with them, been already convinced that those 
charges against Mr. Davis were unfounded in fact. So an applica- 
tion was made on June 11, 1866, to Mr. Justice Underwood, at 
Alexandria, \irginia, for a writ of habeas corpus, which, after argu- 
ment, was denied, upon the ground that "Jefferson Davis was 
arrested under a proclamation of the President charging him with 
complicity in the assassination of the late President Lincoln. He 
has been held," says the decision, "ever since, and is now held, as 
a military prisoner." The Washington Chronicle of that date in- 
sisted that "the case is one well entitled to a trial before a military 
tribunal; the testimony before the Judiciary Committee of the 
House, all of it bearing directly, if not conchisivehj, on a certain in- 
tention to take the life of Mr. Lincoln, is a most important element 
in the case." This was reported as from the pen of Mr. John W. 
Forney, then clerk of the Senate, and is cited by me as an expres- 
sion of a general tone of the press on that occasion. Then, the 
House of Representatives, on the motion of Mr. Boutwell, of Mas- 
sachusetts, the following day passed a resolution "that it was the 
opinion of the House that JeffersQn Davis should be held in cus- 
tody as a prisoner and subject to trial according to the laws of the 
land." It was adopted by a vote of 105 to 19. 

It is very suggestive to reflect just here that, in the intermediate 
time, Mr. Clement C. Clay had been discharged from imprisonment 
without being brought to trial on either of these charges, upon 
which he had been arrested, and for which arrest the $100,000 re- 
ward had been paid. 

This failure to liberate Mr. Davis ^i^^l have been very dis- 
couraging to most of men ; but Mr. Gre^^ and those friends who 
were acting with him, determined to meet the issue made, promptly 
and sharply, and to push the Government to a trial of its prisoner. 
or to withdraw the charge made b}'' its board of military justice. 
The point was soon sent home, and was felt. Mr. Greeley hastened 
back to New York, and the Tribune of June 12, 1866, contained, in 
a leader from his pen, this unmistakable demand and protest : 

"How and when did Davis become a prisoner of war? He was 
not arrested as a public enemy, but as a felon, officially charged, 
in the face of the civilized world, with the foulest, most execrable 
guilt — that of having suborned assaseins to murder President Lin- 
coln — a crime the basest and most cowardly known to mankind. 
It was for this that $100,000 was offered and paid for his arrest. 
And the proclamation of Andrew Johnson and William H. Seward 
offering this reward says his complicity with Wilkes Booth & Co. 
is established 'by evidence now in the Bureau of Military Justice.' 
So there was no need of time to hunt it up. 



324 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

" It has been asserted that Davis is responsible for the death by- 
exposure and famine of our captured soldiers ; and his official po- 
sition gives plausibility to the charge. Yet while Henry Wirz — a 
miserable wretch — a mere tool of tools — was long ago arraigned, 
tried, convicted, sentenced, and hanged for this crime — no charge 
has been officially j^referred against Davis. So we presume none 
is to be." 

The 2/-i6(mekept up repeating this demand during the following 
part of that year, and admonished the Government of the increas- 
ing absurdity of its position, not daring, seemingly, to prosecute a 
great criminal against whom it had officially declared it was pos- 
sessed of evidence to prove that crime. On November Dth, 1866, 
the Tribune again thus emphasized this thought: 

"Eighteen months have nearly elapsed since Jefferson Davis was 
made a State prisoner. He had previousl}' been publicly charged 
by the President of the United States with conspiring to assassinate 
President Lincoln, and $100,000 offered for his capture thereupon. 
The capture was promptly made and the money duly paid; yet, up 
to this hour, there has not been even an attempt made by the Go- 
vernment to procure an indictment on that charge. He has also 
been popularly, if not officially, accused of complicity in the virtual 
murder of Union soldiers while prisoners of war, by subjecting 
them to needless, inhuman exposure, privation and abuse; but no 
official attempt has been made to indict him on that charge. * * 
A great government may deal- sternly with offenders, but not 
meanly; it cannot afford to seem unwilling to repair an obvious 
wrong." 

The Government, however, continued to express its inabiHty to 
proceed with the trial. Another year had passed since the capture 
of Mr. Davis, and now another attempt to liberate him by bail was 
to be made. The Government, by its conduct, having tacitly 
abandoned those special charges of inliumanity, a petition for a 
writ was to be presented, by which the prisoner might be handed 
over to the civil authority to answer the indictment for treason. In 
aid of this project, Mr. Wilson, chairman of the Committee of 
Military Affairs, offered in the Senate, on the 18th of March, 1867, 
a resolution urging the Government to proceed with the trial. The 
remarkable thoughts and language of that resolution were observed 
at the time, and necessarily caused people to infer that Mr. Wilson, 
at least, was not under the too common delusion that the Govern- 
ment really had a case on either of those two particular charges 
against Mr. Davis individually; and a short time after this Mr. 
Wilson went to Fortress Monroe and saw Mr. Davis. The visit 
was simply friendly, and not for any purpose relating to his libe- 
ration. 

On May 14th, 1867, Mr. Davis was delivered to the civil authority ; 
was at once admitted to bail, Mr. Greeley and Mr. Gerrit Smith 
going personally to Ptichmond, in attestation of their belief that 
wrong had been done to Mr. Davis in holding him so long accused 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 325 

"Upon those charges, now abandoned, and as an expression of 
magnanimity toward the South. Commodore Vanderbilt, then but 
recently the recipient of the thanks of Congress for his superb aid 
to the Government during the war, was also represented there, and 
signed the bond through Mr. Horace F. Clark, his son-in-law, and 
Mr. Augustus Schell, his friend. 

The apparent unwillingness o£ the Government to prosecute, 
•under every incentive of pride and honor to the contrary, was 
accepted by those gentlemen and the others whom I have mentioned 
as a confirmation of the information given to me at Montreal, and 
of its entire accuracy. 

These men — Andrew, Greeley, Smith and Wilson — have each 
passed from this life. The history of their efforts to bring all parts 
of our common country once more and abidingly into unity, peace 
and concord, and of Mr. Greeley's enormous sacrifice to compel 
justice to be done to one man, and he an enemy, should be written. 

I will add a single incident tending the same way. In a consul- 
tation with Mr. Thaddeus Stevens, at his residence on Capitol Hill, 
at Washington, in May, 1866, he related to me how the chief of 
this "Military Bureau" showed him "the evidence" upon which 
the proclamation was issued charging Davis and Clay with com- 
plicity in the assassination of Mr. Lincoln. He said that he re- 
fused to give the thing any support, and that he told that gentle- 
man the evidence was insufficient in. itself, and incredible. I am 
not likely ever to forget the earnest manner in which Mr. Stevens 
then said to me : " Those men are no friends of mine. They are 
public enemies; and I would treat the South as a conquered coun- 
try and settle it politically upon the policy best suited for ourselves. 
But I know these men, sir. They are gentlemen, and incapable of 
being assassins."* Yours, faithfully, 

Georgb Shea, 

No. 205 West 46th Street, New York, January 15, 1876. 

And now it only remains that we make a brief 

SUMMING UP 

of this whole question of the treatment of prisoners during the 
war. We think that we have established the following points : 

1. The laws of the Confederate Congress, the orders of the War 
Department, the regulations of the Surgeon-General, the action of 
our Generals in the field, and the orders of those who had the im- 
mediate charge of the prisoners, all provided that prisoners in the 
hands of the Confederates should be kindly treated, supplied with 
the same rations which our soldiers had, and cared for when sick 
in hospitals placed on 'precisely the same footing as the hospitals for 
Confederate soldiers. 

* Note. — This and the former statement concerning Mr. Stevens are confirmed to me bj 
his literary executor and biographer, Hon. Mr. Dickey, of Pennsylvania.— G. S. 



326 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

2. If these regulations were violated in individual instances, and 
if subordinates were sometimes cruel to prisoners, it was without 
the knowledge or consent of the Confederate Government, which 
always took prompt action on any case reported to them. 

3. If the prisoners failed to get their full rations, and had those 
of inferior quality, the Confederate soldiers suffered in precisely the 
same way, and to the same extent, and it resulted from that system 
of warfare adopted by the Federal authorities, which carried deso- 
lation and ruin to every part of the South they could reach, and 
which in starving the Confederates into submission brought the 
same evils upon their own men in Southern prisons. 

4. The mortality in Southern prisons (fearfully large, although 
over three per cent, less than the mortalitij in Northern prisons), resulted 
from causes beyond the control of our authorities — from epidemics, 
&c., which might have been avoided, or greatl}' mitigated, had not 
the Federal Government declared medicines " contraband of war " — 
refused the proposition of Judge Ould, that each Government 
should send its own surgeons with medicines, hospital stores, &c., 
to minister to soldiers in prison — declined his proposition to send 
medicines to its own men in Southern prisons, without being re- 
quired to allow the Confederates the same privilege — refused to 
allow the Confederate Government to buy medicines for gold, 
tobacco or cotton, which it offered to pledge its honor should be 
used only for Federal prisoners in its hands — refused to exchange 
sick and wounded — and neglected from August to December, 1SG4, 
to accede to Judge Quid's proposition to send transportation to 
Savannah and receive without equivalent from ten to fifteen thousand 
Federal prisoners, notwithstanding the fact that this offer was ac- 
companied with a statement of the utter inability of the Confede- 
racy to provide for these prisoners, and a detailed report of the 
monthly mortality at Andersonville, and that Judge Ould, again 
and again, urged compliance with his humane proposal. * 

5. We have proven, by the most unimpeachable testimony, that 
the sufferings of Confederate prisoners, in Northern " prison pens," 
were terrible beyond description — that they were starved in a land 
of plenty — that they were frozen where fuel and clothing were 
abundant — that they suffered untold horrors for want of medicines, 
hospital stores and proper medical attention — that they were shot 
by sentinels, beaten by officers, and subjected to the most cruel 
punishments upon the slightest pretexts — that friends at the North 
were refused the privilege of clothing their nakedness or feeding 



Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 327 

"them when starving — and that these outrages were perpetrated not 
only with the full knowledge of, but under the orders of E. M. 
Stanton, U. S. Secretaey op War. We have proven these things 
by Federal as well as Confederate testimony. 

6. We have shown that all the suffering of prisoners on both 
sides could have been avoided by simply carrying out the terms 
-of the cartel, and that for the failure to do this the Federal authori- 
ties alone were responsible; that the Confederate Government 
originally proposed the cartel, and were always ready to carry it 
■out in both letter and spirit ; that the Federal authorities observed 
its terms only so long as it was to their interest to do so, and then 
repudiated their plighted faith, and proposed other terms, which 
were greatly to the disadvantage of the Confederates ; that when 
the Government at Richmond agreed to accept the hard terms of 
exchange offered them, these were at once repudiated by the 
Federal authorities ; that when Judge Ould agreed upon a new 
cartel with General Butler, Lieutenant-General Grant refused to 
approve it, and Mr. Stanton repudiated it ; and that the policy of 
the Federal Government was to refuse all exchanges, while they 
"fired the Northern heart" by placing the whole blame upon the 
'"Rebels," and by circulating the most heartrending stories of 
■" Rebel barbarity " to prisoners. 

If either of the above points has not been made clear to any 
sincere seeker after the truth, we would be most happy to produce 
further testimony. And we hold ourselves prepared to maintain, 
against all comers, the truth of every proposition we have laid down in 
■this discussion. Let the calm verdict of history decide between the 
■Confederate Government and their calumniators. 



328 Southern Historical Society Papers. 



Iditarial 3^at\i:grap.be. 



Our March Number has excited great interest, and has received the 
warmest commendation from the press generally throughout the South, 
Some of the Northern papers have contained very kindly notices. We have 
seen no attempt to refute the jjoints made ; and we would esteem it a favor 
if our friends would forward us anything of the kind which they may observe. 
We have letters from leading Confederates Avarmly endorsing our array of 
documents and facts, and have reason to feel that in defending the Confede- 
rate Government from the charge of systematic cruelty to prisoners, we have 
rendered a service higldy appreciated by our Southern people. 



Our Subscription List is steadily increasing ; but we can find room for 
other names, and beg our friends to help us sweir the number of our 
readers. 



Valuable Contributions to our archives are constantly coming in. A 
patriotic lady of this city (Mrs. Catharine P. Graham) has recently presented 
us with war files of several Richmond papers. She refused to sell them for 
a large price, and insisted on giving them to our Society. 

John McEae, Esq., of Camden, S. C, has placed us under the highest 
obligations by presenting the following newspaper files : 

Charleston Courier from May 1850 to February 1865. 

Richmond Dispatch from April 18G1 to April 1864. 

Charleston Mercnry from July 1859 to February 1865 and from Novem- 
ber 1866 to November 1868. 

Columbia Daily Carolinian from 1855 to October 1864. 

Charleston Daily News and '■'■ Netos and Courier''^ from June 1866 to 
this date. 

Camden Journal from January 1856 to this date. 

Southern Presbyterian from June 1S58 to this date. 

And Dr. J. Dickson Brims, of New Orleans, has sent us a bound volume 
of the Charleston Mercury for 1862. 

We have received recently other valuable contributions, which we have 
not space even to mention. 



Our present number has been delayed by causes over which we have 
had no control ; but we think that we can promise that hereafter our Papers 
will appear promptly near the latter part of each month. 



Editorial Paragraphs. 32^ 

A Confederate Roster has been a desideratum exceedingly difficult to 
supply. The capture, or destruction, of so large a part of our records has 
rendered a compilation of a full and correct Roster a work of almost insuper- 
able difficulty. We are happy to announce, however, that Colonel Charles 
C. Jones, Jr., of New York (formerly of Savannali), who has been for some 
ten years patiently at work on such a Roster, has brought his labors to a 
conclusion, and has generously placed his MSS. at the disposal of the Society. 
It shows the marks of patient and laborious investigation, and (so far as we 
are able to judge) is much more accurate and complete than could have been 
expected. We propose to begin its publication in our next number, and to 
have it stereotyped, and so arranged that it can be bound, wlien completed, 
hito a neat volume, which will be a most valuable addition to our War 
History. 

We desire that each and all of our readers should keep before tliem the 
fact that there is an Association incorporated by tlie State of Virginia, whose 
trust it is to obtain funds for a monument to be erected at Riclimond in 
memory of General Robert E. Lee. We will not offend good taste by offer- 
ing a word in commendation of this eff'ort to do honor to tlie great captain ; 
we the ratlier assume that every reader of tliese Papers will gladly and 
promptly forward a liberal contribution to the Treasurer at Richmond. The 
Association is administered by a Board of Managers composed of the Gov- 
ernor of Virginia, the Auditor and tlie Treasurer. Tlie Hon. R. M. T\ 
Hanter is tlie treasurer, and Col. S. Bassett Frencli is tlie secretary of the 
Board. Address, Richmond, Va. 



The "Lee Memorial Association," with headquarters at Lexington, 
Va., has been quietly working for its simple object, whicli is to decorate the 
tomb of Lee. Ha-\^ng secured Valentine's splendid recumbent figure of Lee — 
which is, beyond all question, one of tlie most superb works of art on tlie con- 
tinent — they are now raising funds with wliich to build the Mausoleum wliich 
is to contain it. Surely the admirers of our great chieftain ought to supply 
at once the means necessary for this noble object. Send contributions to the- 
Treasurer, C. M. Figgatt, Lexington, Virginia. 



Book Notices. 

Cooke'' s Life of General R. E. Lee. D. Appleton & Co., New York. 

This book was published in 1871, and has been so long before the public 
that it need now receive no extended review at our hands. Colonel Cooke 
wields a facile pen, and his books are always entertaining. There are errors 
in tlie strictly Military i^art of this biography which a more rigid study of the 
official reports would have avoided ; but the account given of General Lee's 
private character and domestic life is exceedingly pleasing and very valuable. 
We are glad to note that an (unintentional) injustice done to the gallant 
General Edward Johnson, in the account of the battle of Spotsylvania Court- 



330 Southern Historical Society Papers. 

house, which appeared ma previous edition, has been corrected inthe edition 
before us. 

A Military Biographjj of Stonewall Jackson. By Colonel John Esten Cooke. 
With an appendix (containing an account of the Inauojafation of Foley's 
statue), b}' Rev. J. Wm. Jones. D. Appleton & Co., New York. 

Cooke's Life of Jackson was originally pul)lished during the war, and was 
rewritten, and republislted ui 18G6. The enterprising publishers liave brought 
out a new edition with an Appendix added, which contains a full account 
of the Inauguration of Foley's statue, including the eloquent address of 
Governor Kemper, and the noble oration of Eev. Dr. Moses D. Hoge. The 
book is gotten up in the highest stjde of the printer's art, tiie engravings add 
to its attractiveness, and we hear it is meeting with a large sale. 

It is to be regretted that the publishers did not give Colonel Cooke the 
opportunity of revising and correcting his work, for while the book is very 
readable, and gives some exceedingly vivid pictures of old Stonewall on his 
rawbone sorrel, there are important errors in the narrative which ought by 
all means to be corrected. 

Personal Reminiscences, Anecdotes and Letters of General R. E. Lee. By 
Rev. J. Wm. Jones, D. D. D. Appleton & Co., New York. 

We cannot, of course, give an unbiased judgment of this book. But we 
may say this, that the letters of General Lee, which the author was so fortu- 
nate as to secure, are among the most charming specimens of letter-writing 
in all the wide range of Literature, and that the view of his private, domes- 
tic, and Christian character thus. given presents him to the world as one of 
the noblest specimens of a man with whom God ever blessed the earth. And 
so large a part of the book is made up of these private letters, and of the 
contributions of others, that even loe may say, witiiout impropriety, that we 
would be glad to see the book widely circnlated — more especially as a part 
of everj^ copy sold goes into the treasury of tlie ''Lee Memorial Association" 
at Lexington. 

We may add that the steel engravings of General Lee and Mrs. Lee in 
this book are the best likenesses of them we have ever seen, and tliat the 
publishers have gotten up the volume in superb style. 

General Joseph E. Johnston's Narrative. D. Appleton & Co., New York. 

General Johnston wields one of the most gracef nl, trenchant pens of any 
man who lignred in the late war, and whatever dift'erence of opinion may 
honestly exist concerning controverted points upon which he touches, all 
■will desire to read tliis really able narrative, and to place it among the com- 
paratively few books which one cares to preserve for future reference and 
study. As it has been intimated tliat General Johnston is now preparing a 
revised and enlarged edition, in wliich he replies to criticisms wliich have 
been made upon his Narrative, we shall look forward with interest to its 
appearance. 

Other Book Notices are crowded out, and will be given her>'after. 



Advertisements. 



Ill S TOR ir 

OF THE 

AE II AiiimieA. 

BY 

THE COMTE de PARIS. 

Translated, with the approval of the author, by Louis F. Tasistro. 
Edited by Henry Cooper, LL. D. Each volume embracing, with- 
out abridgment, two volumes of the French edition. With Maps 
faithfully engraved from the originals, and printed in three colors. 
8vo, per volume, cloth, %2> 50; sheep, Hbrary style, ^-4 50; half 
morocco, $6 00. 

Vols. I. and II. now ready. To te completed in Four Volumes. 

"The fact that I have been engaged for several years ingatherhig material 
and making otlier preparation for the writing of a history of onr civil war 
has led me to read tlie Comte de Paris' work with greater care and much 
more criti<^- ally than I should otlierwise have done, and I regard it as the only 
■one yet written which is, in a proper seiise, a historj^ of tlie Civil War in 
America. It is a thorouglily good histoiy of the war, verj^ much better, in- 
deed, than I had thought it possible for any one to write at present. 

"Tlie Comte de Pai-is had two especial dangers to encounter in his effort 
to write impartially of our war. His personal impressions of the quarrel and 
-of tlie men who were engaged in it were received while he was an officer upon 
one side, activelj^ engaged in military service, and there was every reason to 
apprehend prejudice upon his part against the people whom he was bound to 
regard as enemies. He was & member of the statt" of a general officer, who was 
afterward a candidate for political preferment, and it would have been natural 
enough for him to espouse the personal cause of this chief in all matters per- 
taining to liis campaigns. Both of these dangers the Comte de Paris seems 
to me to have escaped, and his perfect fairness is not less remarkable than 
his singular accuracy of perception in matters of character and motive. His 
candor and impartiality must add largely to the acceptability of his work, both 
at the North and at the South, and it is these qualifications, more than any 
others, which distinguish his history from the many treatises we have from 
American writers on the subject." — Geo. Gary Eggleston., lute of Gen. J. E. 
B. StuarVs Cavalry^ Confederate Army., author of ^'A ReheVs Recollections.,'''' 
etc. 

"It is so superior to all those preceding it that tliere is not one in America 
or Europe worthy to be placed in the same class." — Saturday Review., London, 
England. 

"We advise all Americans to read it carefully, and judge for themselves if 
'the future historian of our war,' of whom we have heard so much, be not 
already arrived in the Comte de Paris. The translation is very good." — The 
Nation., New York. 

J. H. COATES & CO., Publishers,^ 

Philadelphia. 

^*^ For sale by all Booksellers or sent by mail on receipt of price. 



ii Advertisements. 



jrtysT JSS17S20 






of General Boms J. 

("STONEWALL JACKSON.") 
By SARAH NICHOLAS RANDOLPH, 

Author of "The Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson," etc. 

Handsomely Illustrated with Portrait from Steel, and Eight full- 
page Wood-cut Engravings. 

One Volume. Crown 8vo. Bound in Fine Cloth, Beveled Boards, $2 00. 

"The author is a conscientious, pure writer, who is influenced by no ambition beyond 
simple truth and justice. The pages before us are a contribution to our literature, for which 
all Virginians should be grateful, and which should be in the library of every Southern 
household." — Richmond Enqiiirer. 

"It is the record of a career in the highest degree interesting. The simple narrative of 
his life has all the charm of Romance." — BaUiinore Gazette. 

For sale by all Booksellers, or will be sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt of 
the price by the Publisliers. 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., Philadelphia. 



J. AMB^LEH SMITH. 
ATTORNEY AT LAW, 

TENTH AND BANK STREETS, 

RICHMOND, YA. 
RICHMOND, VA. 

AVe have standard picturi s of Generals Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson, 
which are pronounced by their families the best likenesses extant. Also a 
large collection of Photographs of other distinguished Confederates. 



Advertisements. 



BOTETOURT SPRINGS, VA. 

Immediately on the Valley Railroad, and eight miles from the 
iown of Salem, on the A. M. & O. R. R., is a large and well- 
equipped establishment for the educational training of young ladies. 
The accommodations consist of three spacious edifices of brick, 
with tin and slate roofing, affording about one hundred and twenty 
rooms, arranged with special reference to health, comfort and 
efficient school exercises. The extensive grounds around these 
buildings have been beautifully improved witli walkways, shade 
i:rees, flowers, shrubbery, &c., while ihe locality enjoys the further 
advantages of fine mountain scenery, mineral waters and a delight- 
ful, salubrious climate throughout the seasons. 

The Board of Instruction and Government is composed of four 
gentlemen — University graduates — and ten ladies of high social 
position and varied culture, together with several other officers in 
the domestic and business departments. The courses of instruction 
embrace both Ancient and Modern Languages, general Literature 
and the various Sciences, In the department of Music fine facilities 
are afforded for both Instrumental and Vocal pupils. 

The School is at present patronized by prominent families in 
many States. 

Pupils will be received for a single session or for the entire pe- 
riod of their school life, the Institute assuming full responsibility 
for the morals, manners, health and general development of correct 
character of those committed to its charge for a term of years. 
Sectarian books and teachings are positively excluded — the Bible 
alone is the text-book in religion. 

For board and tuition the charge is $240 per session of nine 
months. This charge includes the usual extras of fuel, light, ivash- 
ing,' medical fee and hack hire. No other charge is made except for 
Music and Painting. Pupils furnish napkins, towels and text- 
books — all of which can be purchased for cash at the place. Store 
accounts and all outside expenses are positively forbidden. The 
charge for board in vacation is $20 per month ; parents visiting 
their daughters pay the same. • 

P. O., Botetourt Springs, Va.; Depot, Salem, A. M. & O. R. R. 

Apply to 

CHAS. S. COCKE, 

General Superintendent. 



iv Advertisements. 



UNIVERSITY OF YIRGINIA. 

The session lieglus on the FIRST OF OCTOBER, and continues till the Thursday before 
the 4th day of July ensuing. 

The Institution Is organized in separate Schools on the Eclectic system, emt)raclng FULL 
COURSES OF INSTRUCTION in Literature and Science, and in the professions of Law, 
Medicine, Engineering and Agriculture. 

THE EXPENSES of the student (except such as enter the practical laboratories), ex- 
clusive of the cost of text-books, clothing and pocket money, are from $356 to $::91, accord- 
ing to Schools selected ; or for those who economize by messing, these expenses are from 
$266 to $800. No charge for tuition to candidates for the ministry unable to meet the ex- 
pense. 

Apply for catalogues to Wm. Wektenbakeb, Secretary, P. O. University of Virginia, 
Albemarle county, Va. 

JAS. F. HARRISON, M. D., Chairman of the Faculty. 

HIOHMOND OOl^lLEeE, 

BICHMONn, VA. 

Tlie next session will b'ijin September 23(1, and continue without inter- 
mission for nine moaths. Tlie Colleoje comprises the followino; independent 
schools, eaeli under the control of its own Professor, to wit : La" in, Greek, 
Modern Lansuitg^^, English, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Philosophj'. 

EXPENSES— Entrance fees $20 00 

Tuition in three schools (the usual number) TO oo 

Board in messing clul)s, about 90 00 

Fuel $10, lights and washing $18 ; 28 00 

Total expenses for entire session f208 00 

Or by boarding instead of messing 235 00 

For catalogues, address B. PUKYEAR, Chairman Faculty. 

EPISCOPAL HIGH SCHOOL OF VIRGINIA 

Fairfax County, three miles west of Alexandria. 

FOUNDED IN 1839. 
LAUNCELOT M. BLACKFORD, M. A. [Univ. Va.], Princijml. 

A Classical School for Boys, under the auspices of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church. 

The next session opens SEPTEMBER 27th, 187(1. 

Catalogue, with full i^articulars, sent on application to the Pi-incii)al, 
Alexandria, Va. 

RICEARDSOjY Sf CO , 

Brokers, Real Estate Agents and Auctioneers, 

J. A. RICHARDSON. 1113 Main St., Richmond, Ya. 

. Real Estate, Bonds, Stocks, Mortgages and Commercial Paper bought and 
sold on commission ; Property leased or rented, and Rents collected ; loans 
negotiated on Real Estate or Collateral Security. Utmost care and prudence 
exercised in the investment of money, secured by bonds or deeds of trust on 
real estate, free of charge to lender. 



Advertisements. 



OTJK/ 




COMPLETE SHIRT. 

We sell a Shirt of our owu manufacture, made of WAMSUTTA 
COTTON and GENUINE IRISH LINEN. 

These Shirts are completely made, in the various styles now worn. 
We guarantee that they are manufactured from material as above 
described. They only require to be laundried before being worn, 
and when done up, are equal to any $3 00 Shirt yet offered. 
Pronounced by all who have seen them 



m 



'MWM SHiEf mwm 



We will send a sample Shirt, postage free, on the receipt of 
$1 25. In ordering, the only measure required will be size around 
neck, number of collar worn and length of sleeve. 

A large stock of 

At prices to suit the times. 

LEVY BROTHERS, 

1017 and 1019 Main Street, Richmond, Va. 



VI 



Advertisements. 




Ceo!eonial Memorial' Medals 



50 cent< ; 



ill fancy box. 



Struck in solid Albata Plate, equal in ap- 
pearance, wear and color to Solid Silver or 
Gold, presenting a variety of beautiful de- 
signs in relief. These Medals are larger 
than a silver trade dollar, being If inch in 
diameter, handsomely put up and sell rea- 
dily at sight. The most valuable souvenirs 
and mementos ever issued. Good agents 
wanted in every city and town in the 
United States and Canada, to whom ex- 
clusive territory will be given, if desired. 

Eetail Pkices. — For the Albata Silver, 
Usual discount to the trade. 
A complete outfit of magnificent samples for agents, in satin or velvet- 
lined morocco case, containing six Medals, difterent designs, one gilt, suitable 
for jewelers' show-windows, etc., sent on receipt of draft or postolfice order 
for $4, or will ship express C. O. D. 

Descriptive Circular, Price List and one sample sent upon receipt of 50 
cents. Immense profits. Sells at sight. Correspondence solicited. In- 
formation free. Extensive fields for enterprise. Address all communications 

U. S. MEDALLION CO., 
P. O. Box 5270. 212 Broadivay, New York. 

For sale ly RICHMOND NOVELTY CO, 20 Niutli St, Eictaonl, Va. 

CAPITOL HOTEL 

TWELFTH AND FRANKLIN STREETS, 



RICHMOND, VA. 



Capt. W. P DAVIS, 
C. W, HENDERSON, 



Proi>rietor. 
Clerk aud Manai^er. 



Tliis beautiful Hotel is now open to tlie public, having recently been greatly 
improved and elegantly fm-nished with new furniture and everything neces- 
sary to make it attractive and comfortable. 

Tliis Iiouse is located at a point accessible to business, depots, postofflce, 
banlvs, &c. ^ 

It opens upon the Capitol S(|uare, besides having at its entrance, on Frank- 
lin street, a Fountain of excellent water. 



BOAKD, $2 PER DAT. 



MEALS, 50 CENTS. 



SPECIAJu RATES MADE WITH GUESTS. 



A Bar stocked with choicest Liquors, Wines and Cigars. 
Livery Stable attached to the ifouse. 



Ru 104 



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DOBBS BROS. c. a^ 

LIBRARY BINDINO . t, ^ T 



ST. AUGUSTINE 

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